




LEPIDOPTERA. 
infects the Chinefe appropriate to making filk, and whether P. Atlas is of the number, as has been 
conjetured, 
cen{ure it is now branded with, of being a mere curiofity, void of any real utility *.” If Leffer and Lyonet are to be relied on, 
The Theologie des Infeétes anfwers this query. ‘‘ At this day there are to be found in China, in the province of Canton, filk 
worms in a wild ftate, which, without any care being taken of them, make in the woods a kind of filk which the inhabitants 
afterwards gather from the trees. It is grey, without luftre, and is ufed to make a very thick and ftrong cloth, named there 
Kien Tcheon. It may be wathed like linen cloth, and does not ftain.” A Gentleman refident in the Eaft Indies, {peaks of a 
large Phaleena, producing filk in that country. ‘“ We have a beautiful filk worm north-eaft of Bengal, that feeds on the 
Ricinus, whence I call it Phalena Ricini: it is fea green, with foft {pines, very large, and voracious, and {pins a coarfe, but 
ftrong and ufeful filk. The moth is of great fize, with elegant dark plumage.—lIs it known to European Naturalifts ?”—Jn a 
colleétion of papers publifhed by Dr. ANDERSON, in MADRAS, 1788, 1789.—M. Le Bon, Reaumur, Roefel, and feveral others, 
have attempted to weave the filk of {piders, as a fubftitute for that of filk worms, but their experiments rather amufe, and point 
out the ingenuity of the propofers, than promife to be ufeful; for after many trials, it appears that the filk of fpiders would be 
inferior in luftre, and far more expenfive than that of filk worms. Sir G. Staunton alludes to thefe experiments in his defcrip- 
tion of the Java forefts. ‘ In fome open fpots were found webs of {piders, woven with threads of fo ftrong a texture, as not 
eafily to be divided without a cutting inftrument ; they feemed to render feafible the idea of him, who, in the fouthern 
provinces of Europe, propofed a manufa@ture from {piders’ threads ; which is fo ridiculous to the eyes of thofe who have only 
viewed the flimfy webs fuch infeéts fpin in England.”—Many other fubftances of a foft texture have alfo been wrought into a 
variety of trifling articles, as gloves, ftockings, &c. of the fibres of Afbeftos earth, or mountain flax, beard of the large Pinna 
fhell, &c. &c. 
* Naturalift and Traveller’s Companion, 1”74. 
