Others derive the name from more, the Slavonic word for the sea. See "On he Study of Words;" by Abp. Trench.— Ed. t De Gasparin, "Essai sur rintroduction des Vers a Soie en Europe," p. 70.

218

THE INSECT WORLD.

de Serres, it was not introduced till much later into Dauphiné. It was not introduced into Alan, near Montélimar, till 1495, by the Seigneur Guyape de Saint-Aubain.* Louis XI. made great efforts to develop the silk trade in France, by inviting over Italian workmen; and they began under his reign to fabricate silks in Touraine and Lyons. Francis I. greatly developed the trade of Lyons. In 1554, under Henry II., the masters and men employed in the manufacture of gold, silver, and silk in Lyons were twelve thousand in number. Under Henry II. were planted the mulberry trees of Bourdezière, Tours, Chenonceaux, Toulouse, and Moulins. These plantations, however, were of very small extent. They were not the result of a general and truly popular effort; moreover, civil war came very soon, and turned men’s minds away from the isolated attempts of some few private individuals. Sericulture, in fact, did not assume any great importance in France till the reign of Henry IV.

This king saw with grief considerable sums of money leaving France each year for the purchase of raw silk or of silk stuffs. Two men marvellously furthered his project of encouraging the silk trade. One of these men was Barthelemy Laffemas, called Beausemblant. For a long time he had been writing memoir upon memoir, to demonstrate the advantages to be derived from the plantation of the mulberry tree in France; and he tells us that silkworms were then raised with success at Nantes, at Poissy, and even at Paris. The second supporter whom Henry IV. found in the propagation of sericulture was a man distinguished in a very different way from that of M. Laffemas. This was Olivier de Serres, the author of the “Théâtre de l’Agriculture;” he whom Henry IV. called his lord and master in agriculture. Olivier de Serres was the first among his countrymen who had published instructions regarding the cultivation of mulberry trees and the rearing of silkworms. Henry IV., who had noticed his writings, called him to Paris; and, on his solicitation, caused twenty thousand mulberry trees and a great quantity of silkworms’ eggs, of which a distribution was made over the whole of France, to be imported from Italy. From that moment, sericulture was propagated rapidly in the Cévennes, in Provence, in Languedoc, in Touraine, and many other provinces. Mulberry trees were planted at Fontainebleau, in the royal park of Tournelles, and even in the Tuileries, where an Italian lady, named Julle, reared silkworms for Henry IV.

Notwithstanding this great impulse, sericulture dwindled away

“Théâtre d’Agriculture d’Olivier de Serres,” tome ii., p. 158. In 8vo.

LEPWOPTERA. 2()

On the death of that king. It received a fresh impulse under Colbert, the great minister, who succeeded in creating the spirit of commerce and trade in France. New manufactories were established, and plantations of mulberry trees formed in many of the provinces. All this progress was suddenly brought, to a standstill by the iniquitous revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which deprived France of her leading commercial men. Driven from their own country, the Protestant families of the Cevennes established abroad silk manufactories, the fabrics of which rivalled those of French production.

In the eighteenth century the intendants of the provinces tried, but with very slight success, to give a fresh impetus to sericulture in France. The Abbe Boissier de Sauvages published, about 1760, some works, which prove him to have been a patient observer, an accurate reasoner, and a clever rearer of silkworms. Boissier de Sauvages is the father of modern silk-culture. During the first Revolution, men's minds were occupied with graver subjects than the cultivation of the mulberry tree. But, on the return of peace, they got to work again on all sides. In 1808, the minister Chaptal estimated the weight of the cocoon harvest at between five or six thousand kilogrammes; whilst the invention of the Jacquard loom gave an immense impulse to the weaving of silk stuffs. Amongst those who introduced and benefited the art of sericulture, we must not forget Dandolo. Dandolo, who was born at Venice in 1758, and died in 18 19, was the first who, at the beginning of this century, applied himself seriously to the amelioration of the processes employed in the cultivation of silk. He endeavoured to regulate the temperature, to introduce more order into the distribution of the food to the worms, to have more spacious premises, and to have these properly ventilated. Now we are on this subject, we must mention the names of those who at the present day have rendered important services to sericulture— such as M. Camille Beauvais, who raised silkworm rearing from the inactivity into which it had been plunged; M. Eugene Robert, who founded in the south of France the first successful silkworm nursery; M. Guerin-Meneville, who devoted his life to the study of the same question, and to whom Europe owed the introduction and the acclimatisation of some species; and lastly, M. Robinet, who elucidated several practical questions in the art of sericulture. In bringing to a close this historical epitome, we will state that silk, the raw material of which France supplies herself in part, is chiefly manufactured in the districts of Lyons, Dauphine, and the

Department of Ardeche. That country possesses some 1,400 manufactories of raw silk, and over 1,200 spinning or weaving works, with more than 100,000 spindles, 40,000 power-looms, and 60,000 hand-looms. The imports of silk yarns and pieces amount to close upon;^i, 7 50,000 per annum in value, and the yearly value of the exports of the same approach;^9,ooo,ooo. This enormous trade shows how popular this beautiful fabric still is, an estimation that is to be explained by the consistency of the stuff, its smoothness, its softness of surface, the manner in which it receives colours, its brightness, fineness, power of reflecting, its rustle, and other qualities. The Bombyx mori has, however, nothing alluring in its appearance. Other caterpillars of the genus Bo?nbyx have brilliant liveries; they are adorned with spots, blue as sapphires, green as emeralds, red as rubies, but produce threads without brightness and fineness. The humble silkworm, in a white blouse, like a workman, has nothing brilliant in its dress, and yet it gives to the whole world its most beautiful and gorgeous array. The body of the silkworm is composed of thirteen distinct segments. In front are three pairs of articulated legs, which will become later those of the moth. In the middle and towards the posterior i)art, are five i)airsof membranous legs, furnished with a circle of very fine bristles, which assist the animal to hook itself on to leaves and stalks. On the two sides of its body are eighteen stigmata, or respiratory mouths.

The head of the silkworm is remarkable; it is scaly, horny, and formed of one single piece. The mouth is provided with six small articulated pieces. Below is a simple blade, the upper lip, having in its middle a hollow, into which the animal causes the edge of the leaf it is gnawing to enter, and holds it thus without any exertion. Underneath the lip are inserted t\YO large jaws, which cut the leaf as a pair of scissors. Underneath, some weaker jaws divide the fragments, and a little organ, articulated on to each jaw, that is tO| say, a palpus, pushes them back towards the mouth, and prevents thej smallest particle of the leaf from falling. And lastly, in the space; comprised between the two jaws, is an under-lip, which completely closes the mouth below. At the extremity of this piece may be seen a little prolongation, a sort of papilla, pierced with a hole, which the orifice that gives issue to the silky thread.

The organs which serve for the elaboration and emission of the silk have a peculiar interest for us. If we dissect a silkwonn undei water, we succeed, sooner or later, after having removed the outei parts, in laying bare a double apparatus, placed along the two sidi

of the intestinal canal and below it. This is the apparatus which secretes the silk; it is the double silk -bearing gland. Each one of . these glands is composed of a tube formed of three distinct parts (Fig. 201). The part which is nearest to the tail of the worm is a bent tube, a b c, of a thirtieth of an inch in diameter, and about nine inches in length, twisted a great many times into irregular zigzags. This part of the silk-producing organ is continued in an enlarged portion, d e, which is the reservoir of the silky matter. To the extremity, e, of this reservoir, is attached another capillary tube, e f. These two capillary tubes, proceeding from the two glands, unite together like two venous trunks, as the diagram shows, in one single, short canal, f, which opens in the mouth of the worm, at its under-lip. It is in the narrow hinder tubes that the silky matter is formed. It collects in the swollen part D E, which is, properly speaking, the reservoir; and remains there in the glutinous state. Having reached the capillary tubes, it begins to assume consistency, and forms two threads, which are united together at the point of junction of the tubes, and come out through the orifice, with the appearance of a single thread, to be conducted and directed by the animal to those points it has selected.

of theIt waswormhopedthe viscousthat bymattertakingcontainedfrom the inbodythe siik-secrVtlng^apparatus glands, silk could be formed. But this hope was disappointed. It was found possible, it is true, to take the silk out; to draw it out into threads more or less fine; but up to this time it has only been possible in this way to obtain a matter which, when dried, more or less resembles catgut, and is easily enough spoilt by water.

The viscous substance contained in the glands must then be elaborated by the insect itself When it arrives in the conduit common to the capillary tubes, under the form of a thread, it is impregnated with a sort of varnish, which is poured into them from two neighbouring glands. The varnish unites the two threads into one single thread, and imparts to it the brilliancy of silk, and the property ofresisting the action of water. It is during the last phases of the

worm's development that the silky matter becomes abundant in the

glands. At this period the animal eats much; and it is certain that the substance to be converted is furnished by the leaf of the tree on which the insect feeds. In consequence of this having been remarked, some manufacturers have attempted to obtain their silk directly from the mulberry leaf; but they only get a bad floss or refuse silk. This is because the silk is not formed in the mulberry leaf. The organs of insects are labora-tories, in which manipulations unknown to man are carried on, manipulations which he has not been able to imitate.

After this rapid glance at the fundamental parts of the organism of the silkworm, we will occupy ourselves with the natural history, properly so called, of this insect, and with its rearing, carried on with a view to the production of silk.

As belonging to the first part of this programme, we have to speak of the moult, of the ages of the silkworm, of its maturity, of its

Fig. 202. Fig. 203. Head of the Silkworm during moulting. Position ot Silkworm while moulting.

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