LEPIDOPTERA. 219 
rearing of the worms and the preparation for the silk, according 
to the instructions given by these courageous travellers. The 
first rearings succeeded perfectly, and so plantations of mulberry 
trees were seen to multiply and spread through the whole extent 
of the Eastern empire. It was, above all, in Southern Greece 
that this branch of industry assumed an immense importance. It 
was then the Peloponnesus lost its old name, and was called the 
Morea, from the Latin name for “mulberry,” morus.* 
Constantinople and Greece were the countries which, during 
centuries, furnished the whole of Europe with silkworms. This 
diffusion, however, was effected very slowly. The Greeks attached 
great importance to retaining the monopoly, and the Emperor 
Justinian had caused to be established at Constantinople itself silk 
manufactories, where the most skilful artificers of Asia, forbidden 
to reveal the various processes to strangers, worked. 
Towards the beginning of the eighth century the Arabs intro- 
duced the silkworm into Spain. But this industry remained con- 
fined within narrow limits. It was, in fact, not till after the 
twelfth century that sericiculture began to spread throughout 
Europe. Roger, King of the Two Sicilies, possessing a navy that 
commanded the Mediterranean, employed it chiefly in making ex- 
cursions and conquests. He ravaged Greece, and not satisfied 
with the booty he carried away from that unfortunate country, 
wished still further to deprive them, for the good of his own 
kingdom, of the silk monopoly, the source of their riches. Roger 
carried away into Sicily and Naples a great number of prisoners, 
amongst whom were some weavers and men who had devoted 
themselves to the rearing of silk. In 1169 he established these 
workmen in houses adjoining his own palace at Palermo. There 
they dyed the silk of different colours, and mixed it with gold, 
pearls, and precious stones. 
From Sicily the art of preparing silk spread over the rest of 
Italy. In 1204, the workers in silk constituted themselves into 
a syndicate at Florence. It is not, however, till 1423, more than 
two hundred years after the introduction of this branch of industry 
into Italy, that we find the first mention of the cultivation of the 
* Others derive the name from more, the Slavonic word for the sea. See ‘On 
the Study of Words.’’ By Dean Trench.—Eb. 
ie ee 

