88 
P H A L M N A. 
The larva of tins moth is far more brilliant in its ap¬ 
pearance than the complete infeCt; it is of confulerable 
fixe, meafuring above two inches in length, and is of a 
molt beautiful green, with the back of a dull purple, 
freckled with very numerous deeper ftreaks in a longitu¬ 
dinal direction; the purple part of the back is feparated 
from the green on the tides by a pair of milk-white ftripes, 
which, commencing from the head, run upwards to the 
top of the back, that part being elevated confiderably 
above the reil into a pointed procefs; and from thence 
are continued along the fides to the tail. The face is flat 
and fubtriangular, yellowith, furrounded, firft by a black 
and then by a red border; and it is diftinguithed by two 
deep black eyes or fpots on each fide the upper part: from 
the tail, which is extended into two long, roughened, 
/harp-pointed, tubular, procefies, proceed, on the leaft ir¬ 
ritation, two long, red, flexible tentacula, the infeCt feem- 
ing to exert them as if for the purpofe of terrifying its 
difturbers; lifting up the fore part of the body, at the 
fame time, in a menacing attitude, and prefenting a highly 
grotefque appearance. See fig. 13. This creature pof- 
fefles the power of fuddenly ejecting from its mouth, to a 
confulerable diftance, an acrimonious reddilh fluid, which 
it ufes as a farther defence, and which produces confider- 
able irritation, if it happen to be thrown into the eyes of 
the fpeCtator. It is principally feen on willows and 
poplars ; and, when the time of its change comes, it de- 
fcends to the lower part of the tree, and envelops itfelf in 
a glutinous cafe, prepared by moiftening with its faliva 
the woody fibres of the tree, and covering itfelf with 
them, attaching the edges very clofely to the bark, and 
in this ftate it remains fecure throughout the whole 
winter, it being too clofe to be affeCted by the froft, and 
too ftrong to be fuccefsfully attacked by birds. The 
chryfalis is thick, (hort, and black, and in the month of 
May or June, according to the warmth of the feafon, gives 
birth to the moth, which, immediately on emerging from 
the upper part of the chryfalis, difcharges a quantity of 
fluid fulficient to foften effectually the walls of its prifon, 
and effeCt a ready efcape. 
16. Phalaena laneftris: wings of a'rufty colour, marked 
with a white ftreak; the upper wings are white at the 
bafe, and marked with a white dot. It is a native of this 
and other countries of Europe, and found on the lime- 
tree, the floe, and the willow. See fig. 14. It produces 
eggs covered with afh-coioured wool. The larva is hairy 
and black. It is gregarious, and lives in habitations 
which it forms for itfelf, compofed of many cells; going 
out in quell of food, it returns through parallel holes. 
See fig. 15. 
17. Phalaena populi: brown, the fore part pale ; wings 
brownifli, with a flexuous whitilh ftreak, and contiguous 
fmallerone. See fig. 16. 
18. Phalaena procefiionea: wings cinereous-brown, with 
a fingle darker itreak on the female, and two on the male. 
The larva is gregarious and hairy; and the Ikin, which 
it calls off, is laid to produce inflammation, if touched. 
19. Phalaena mori, the filk-worm: wings pale, with three 
obfolete brown ftreaks. 
This is by far the moll important of all the moths. It 
varies a little in fize and colour, the wings being fome- 
times yellowilh, and fometimes whitilh. It is reprefented, 
in two different pofitions, at fig. 17, 18. 
The caterpillar or larva, emphatically known by the 
title of the Jilk-worm, is, when full grown, nearly three 
inches long, and of a yellowilh grey colour; on the upper 
part of the lalt joint of the body is a horn-like procefs, as 
in many of the Sphinges. It feeds, as every one knows, 
on the leaves of the white mulberry, in defeCt of which 
may be fubllituted the black mulberry, and even, in fotne 
inftances, the lettuce, and a few other plants. The filk- 
worm remains in its larva ftate about fix weeks, changing 
its Ikin four times during that period, and, like other ca¬ 
terpillars, abftaining from food for fome time before each 
change. When full grown, the animal entirely ceafes to 
feed, and begins to form itfelf a loofe envelopment of 
filken fibres in fome convenient fpot which it has 
chofen for that purpofe, and afterwards proceeds to en¬ 
wrap itfelf in a much clofer covering, forming an oval 
yellow filken cafe or ball about the fize of a pigeon’s egg, 
in which it changes to a chryfalis, and, after lying thus 
inclofed for the fpace of about fifteen days, gives birth to 
the moth. This however is always carefully prevented 
when the animals are reared for the purpofe of commerce, 
the moth greatly injuring the filk of the ball by difcharg- 
ing a quantity of coloured fluid before it leaves the cell: 
the filk balls are therefore expofed to fuch a degree of 
heat as to kill the inclofed chryfalides; a few only being 
faved for the breed of the following year. The moth, 
when hatched, is a very ftiort-lived animal; breeding foon 
after its exclufion, and, when the females have laid their 
eggs, they, as well as the males, furvive but a very thort 
time. See the article Entomology, vol. vi. p. 836. and 
Plate II. fig. 4, 5, 6, 7. 
The length of the filken fibre or thread drawn by the 
filkworm in forming his ball, is computed by Monf. 
Ifnard,a French author, who wrote on the fubjeCt of the 
filk-worm in the feventeenlh century, to be fix Englifh 
miles in length. This computation however appears to 
be a greatly exaggerated one. The length indeed may be 
fuppofed to differ confiderably in different filk-balls, but 
in general will be found far fhort of what is ftated by 
Ifnard. According to Boyle, as quoted by Derham, a 
lady, on making the experiment, found the length of a 
ball to be confiderably more than three hundred yards, 
though the weight was only two grains and a half. The 
Abbe la Pluche informs us, that of two balls one mea 
fured 924 feet, ami the other 930. In a communication 
to the Society for Arts and Manufactures, (vol. xiv. p. 
163.) it is ftated by Mifs Henrietta Rhodes, that one line 
of the filk-worm, when unwound, meafured 404 yards, 
and, when dry, weighed three grains; hence it follows, 
that one pound avoirdupoife of the thread, as fpun by the 
worm, may be extended into a line 535 miles long, and 
that a thread which would encompafs the earth would 
weigh no more than 47 pounds. 
Under the article Entomology, vol. vi. p. 836. fome 
particulars are given as to the mode of working purfued 
by the filk-worm; and on Plate II. adapted to that article, 
fig. 4 thows the caterpillar of its natural fize; fig. 5, the 
chryfalis; fig. 6, a feCtion of the cone or follicle of filk; 
and fig. 7, fliows the infeCt making its way out, being ar¬ 
rived at its perfeCt ftate. 
The art of manufacturing filk is faid to have been firft 
invented in the ifland of Cos, by a woman of the name 
of Pampliilis, the daughter of Platis. The difcovery was 
not long unknown to the Romans. Silk was brought to 
them from Serica, where the infeCt itfelf was a native; 
but fo far were they from profiting by the difcovery, that 
they could not be induced to believe fo fine a thread to 
be the work of an infeCt, and formed many chimerical 
conjectures of their own on the fubjeft. Silk was a very 
fcarce article among them for many ages : it was even fold 
weight for weight with gold ; infomuch that Vopifcus 
informs us, that the emperor Aurelian, who died A. D, 
275, refufed the emprefs his wife a robe of filk, which fhe 
earneftly folicited, merely on account of the expenfe. 
Others however, with greater probability, aflert that it 
was known at Rome fo early as the reign of Tiberius, 
about A. D. 17. Galen, who lived about the year of our 
Lord 173, fpeaks of the rarity of filk, being no-where 
then but at Rome, and there only among the rich. He- 
liogabalus the emperor, who died A. D. 220, is faid by 
fome to have been the firft perfon who wore a holofericum, 
i. e. a garment entirely of filk. The Greeks of the army 
of Alexander the Great are faid to have been the firft who 
brought wrought filk from Perfia into Greece, about 323 
years before Chrift; but the manufacture of it was firft 
confined to Berytus and Tyre in Phoenicia, whence it was 
difperfed over the weft. At length, two monks, coming 
from 
