1S4 
THE ART OF REARING 
it only one mouthful, they will not think of their 
cocoon, and it will happen, that after climbing, 
and even evacuating themselves, they sometimes 
go down again for more food. I have seen them 
stop when descending, and remain with their 
heads downward, the wish to eat having ceased 
before they reached the bottom ; they should 
then be turned, so that their heads may be put 
upwards, as the position is injurious to them. 
These attentions, which appear too frivolous, 
often contribute, however, to an abundant crop 
of the best cocoons, with few double ones. 
I have often seen, in visiting laboratories that 
had no fault but that of ill-arranged hedges and 
clumps, namely, that the fagots were too thick, 
irregular, the air not circulating, the worms 
were straitened, many cocoons double, others 
imperfect, soiled, and some of the silk-worms 
smothered before the completion of their meta- 
morphosis. In which cases, far from a fragrant 
smell, the air of the laboratory had a stench 
most offensive, produced by the decomposition of 
the silk-worms. 
5. Separation of the Silk-vjorms which will not 
rise. Cleaning the Wicker Hurdles for the last 
Time: 
Four-and-twenty or thirty hours after the worms 
have first begun to rise, and when four-fifths 
