354 
MOTH. 
under her mouth such a kind of instrument perfo- 
rated with a pair of holes, through which she draws 
two drops of the gum that fills her bag ; and as every 
thread proceeds from two gum-bags, it is probable 
that each supplies its own, which immediately after 
leaving the animal loses its fluidity and acquires 
the necessary consistence. The silkworm is never 
deceived in adjusting the dimensions of the two 
apertures, or calculating the due thickness of the 
thread : she always makes it sufficiently strong to 
support the weight of her body, and unites the 
two threads together by glueing one over the other 
with her fore paws. 
When the creature has fixed upon a proper situ- 
ation where it may construct its cell without in- 
terruption, it begins to move its head in all di- 
rections, in order to fasten its threads on every side. 
This first work looks like confusion, but it is not 
without design. The worm, in the beginning, neither 
arranges its threads nor disposes one over another ; 
but contents itself with distending a sort of cotton 
or flue, to keep off' the rain ; for they constantly 
make use of the same means in the house which 
nature has ordained them to use for their defence 
in the open air. 
“ When my curiosity,” says the Abbe La Pluche, 
“ led me to know how they spun and placed their 
beautiful silk, I took some of them and frequently 
removed the flue with which they first attempted 
to make themselves a covering ; and as I weakened 
them exceedingly, when they were at last tired of 
