THE SILKWORM. 
THE Caterpillar, or Silkworm, is at 
first of a dark color, but soon be- 
comes light, and in its tints much 
resembles the perfect insect — a 
circumstance common in Caterpillars. 
Its proper food is the Mulberry, though 
it will likewise eat the Lettuce, and some 
few other plants, on which, however, it 
does not thrive equally well, and the 
silk yielded is of a poor quality. 
The Silkworm is about eight weeks 
in arriving at maturity, during which 
period it changes its skin four or five 
times. When about to cast its skin it 
ceases to eat, raises the forepart of the 
body slightly, and remains in perfect 
repose. In this state it necessarily 
continues for a time, in order that the 
new skin, which is at this time forming, 
may become sufficiently mature to en- 
able the Caterpillar to burst through 
the old one. This operation is per- 
formed thus: The forepart of the old 
skin is burst; the Silkworm then, by con- 
tinually writhing its body, contrives to 
thrust the skin back to the tail and dis- 
engage itself; this is difficult, however, 
since it is no uncommon occurrence for 
them to die from not being able to free 
themselves. 
When full grown the Silkworm com- 
mences spinning its web in some con- 
venient spot, and as it does not change 
the position of the hinder portions of 
its body much, but continues drawing 
its thread from various points, and at- 
taching it to others, it follows that after 
a time its body becomes, in a great 
measure, enclosed by the thread. The 
work is then continued from one thread 
to another, the Silkworm moving its 
head and spinning in a zig-zag way, bend- 
ing the forepart of the body back to 
spin in all directions within reach, and 
shifting the body only to cover with 
silk the part which was beneath it. In 
this way it encloses itself in a cocoon 
much shorter than its own body. Dur- 
ing the time of spinning the cocoon the 
Silkworm decreases in length consider- 
ably, and after the work is done it is not 
half its original length. At this time it 
becomes quite torpid, soon changes its 
skin, and appears in the form of a chrys- 
alis. In this state the animal remains 
about three weeks; it then bursts its case 
and comes forth in the imago state, the 
moth having previously dissolved a por- 
tion of the cocoon by means of a fluid 
which it ejects. The moth is short 
lived; the female in many instances dies 
almost immediately after she has laid 
her eggs; the male survives her but a 
short time. 
China was the first country in which 
the labors of the Silkworm were availed 
of, and Aristotle was the first Greek au- 
thor who mentions it. It was not until 
the fifteenth century that the manufac- 
ture of silk was established in England. 
The raising of Silkworms in the United 
States has been attempted with success 
in the Southern States, and especially in 
California. As the Silkworms in Eu- 
rope are affected by disease, immense 
quantities of eggs are sent from this 
country. 
Reeling from the cocoons is only per- 
formed in countries where the silk is 
produced. In plain silk-weaving the 
process is much the same as in weaving 
wool or linen, but the weaver is assisted by 
a machine for theeven distribution of the 
warp, which frequently consists of eight 
thousand separate threads in a breadth 
of twenty inches. The Jacquard loom, 
invented by a weaver of Lyons, has been 
the means of facilitating and cheapen- 
ing the production of fancy or figured 
silks to an extraordinary extent. 
The Pan-American delegates during 
their tour through this country were 
presented with silk flags by the Wo- 
man's Silk-Culture Association of Phil- 
adelphia. The flags were made from 
material produced in the United States. 
The eggs from which our photo- 
graph was taken are "live eggs," and if 
properly handled will hatch out in the 
spring. In order to bring about this 
result care must be taken that they do 
not become too warm; freezing will 
not hurt them, but heat or dampness 
will cause them to hatch or spoil. 
Forty thousand eggs weigh about 
one ounce, and when hatched will pro- 
duce about one hundred pounds of 
fresh cocoons. 
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