S1G 
NATURAL llISTORr. 
substance, which is called floss ; within the thread is more 
distinct and even ; and next the body of the amelia, the 
apartment seems lined with a substance of the hardness of 
paper, but of a much stronger consistence, it must not be 
supposed, that the thread which goes to compose the cone, 
is rolled round, as we roll a bobbin; on the contrary, it lies 
upon it in a very irregular manner, and winds off now from 
one side of the cone, and then from the other. This whole 
thread, if measured, will be found about 300 yards long: 
and so fine, that eight or ten of them are generally rolled off 
into one by the manufacturers. The cone, when completed, 
is in form like a pigeon’s egg, and more pointed at one end 
than the other : at the smaller end, the head of the aurelia 
is generally found ; and this is the place that the insect, when 
converted into a moth, is generally seen to burst through. 
It is generally a fortnight or three weeks before the aurelia 
is changed into a moth, but no sooner is the winged insect 
completely formed, than having divested itself of its aurelia 
skin, it prepares to burst through its cone, or outward pri- 
son ; for this purpose it extends its head towards the point 
of the cone, butts with its eyes, which are rough, against 
the lining of the cell, wears it away, and at last pushes for- 
ward, through a passage which is small at first, but which 
enlarges as the animal increases its efforts for emancipation ; 
while the tattered remnants of its aurelia skin lie in confusion 
within the cone, like a bundle of dirty linen. 
The animal, when thus set free from its double confine- 
ment, appears exhausted with fatigue, and seems produced 
for no other purpose but to transmit a future brood. It 
neither flies nor cats ; there are few however, of these ani- 
mals sufiered to come to a slate of maturity ; for as their 
bursting through the cone destroys the silk, the manufac- 
turers take care to kill the aurelia, by exposing it to the sun, 
before the moth comes to perfection. This done, they take 
off the floss, and throw the cones into warm w'ater, stirring 
them till the first thread offers them a clue for w inding all off. 
They generally take eight of the silken threads together; the 
cones beingstill kept under water, tillaproperquantity of the 
silk is wound off; however, they do not take all ; for the lat- 
ter parts grow weak, and are of a bad colour. As to the 
paper- like substance which remains, some stain it with a va- 
riety of colours, to make artificial flowers, others let it lie in 
the water, till the glutinous matter which cements it is all 
dissolved ; it is then carded like wool, spun with a wheel, 
and converted into silk stuffs of an inferior kind. 
