It Is No
Unusual To See Double Cocons, Spun By Two Worms Included Under A
Common Cover.
There must be an infinite number of worms to yield
any considerable quantity of silk.
One ounce of eggs or grains
produces, four rup, or one hundred Nice pounds of cocons; and one
rup, or twenty-five pounds of cocons, if they are rich, gives
three pounds of raw silk; that is, twelve pounds of silk are got
from one ounce of grains, which ounce of grains its produced by
as many worms as are inclosed in one pound, or twelve ounces of
cocons. In preserving the cocons for breed, you must choose an
equal number of males and females; and these are very easily
distinguished by the shape of the cocons; that which contains the
male is sharp, and the other obtuse, at the two ends. In ten or
twelve days after the cocon is finished, the worm makes its way
through it, in the form of a very ugly, unwieldy, aukward
butterfly, and as the different sexes are placed by one another
on paper or linen, they immediately engender. The female lays her
eggs, which are carefully preserved; but neither she nor her mate
takes any nourishment, and in eight or ten days after they quit
the cocons, they generally die. The silk of these cocons cannot
be wound, because the animals in piercing through them, have
destroyed the continuity of the filaments. It is therefore, first
boiled, and then picked and carded like wool, and being
afterwards spun, is used in the coarser stuffs of the silk
manufacture.
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