102 
COCOONS OF PURE SILK. 
When the flos-silk, and the fine silk, have 
both been taken away, there still remains a ball 
of thin transparent skin, which is the lining of 
the cocoon. These delicate balls are not thrown 
away as useless ; they are sometimes carded into 
silken flax, or else painted np and made into 
artificial flowers. 
Silkworms are the only insects, except bees, 
that man has thought it worth his while to rear, 
for the sake of the riches they produce. Year 
by year, they work for us with unceasing industry; 
and without them we should lose the most costly 
and beautiful article of our attire. They are the 
*/ 
“ Millions of spinning worms, 
That in their green shops weave the smooth- - 
hair’d silk.” 
But there is no need to say much of the silk¬ 
worm, as the subject is too familiar, and has 
already been noticed in speaking of the mulberry- 
tree, in a previous volume of “ The Observing 
Bye.” 
I might however tell you what I think will 
amuse you. The Chinese are so economical, and 
so determined to waste nothing, that when they 
have wound off the silk from the cocoon, they 
serve up the chrysalis as a dainty dish, and 
actually eat it! 
