SILK-WORMS. 
225 
just explained, as being the most simple, the 
most easily executed, and as offering the following 
practical advantages. 
1st. The moths being hatched, and remaining 
almost all of them separate for a short time before 
they unite, have leisure to evaporate a portion of 
the humid and earthy matters that load them. 
2nd. All those which unite of themselves on the 
table, are handled only once, when they are 
raised up ; afterwards they remain quiet, the 
whole of the time during which they ought to be 
united. 
3d. The moths that are not united, are, by this 
method, only handled once. 
4th. The females and males which remain sepa- 
rate on the tables when the junctions take place, 
and which have been put into the box, (Fig. 27.) 
are handled again only when the moths of the 
required sex are found. 
It might seem, by this method, that the co- 
coons would be much soiled on the wicker trays, 
but this is not the case. If care be taken fre 
quently to remove the cocoons that are burst, and 
to stir those which are not yet open, the paper 
which covers the trays soaks up almost all the 
moisture of the cocoons that lie upon it ; so that 
attention being had to change this paper when it 
is very wet, the cocoons become very little dirty. 
