cr own readers

SILKWORMS. 1 5
of th ese cocoons. All moths whose wings are expand
ed at the time of their birth are regard ed as useful
; whereas those which
have crumpled wings and
no eyebrows, and which
are without down, are
considered useless, and
are at once destroyed.
2. After a day or two, >10TH.
the females, each having been placed on a sheet of
coarse paper, I:egin to lay their eggs. In th e silk
districts of the north of China, owing to the coldness
of th e climate, pieces of cloth are used instead
of sheets of pap er. The num ber of eggs which one
moth lays is generally five hundred, and the period
required for thi s is about three days. The moths die
almost immediately after they hav e laid th eir eggs.
3. During the aut umn and winter months, the
eggs are carefully put away on shelves in a large,
well-aired room. I n spring, each egg hatches out
into a tiny black worm scarcely thicker than a hair.
Those in charge begin at once to feed th e little worms
with the leaves of the mulb erry-tree, cut into very
small pieces with sharp knives, so that the leaves
are not bruised nor their juice lost. When the worms
are quite young, they are fed every half-hour. B.rund-by
their meals are reduced to one each hour ; and
when they hav e attained to th eir full growth, they
get only three or four meals a day.
4. Lik e all other creatures, these young silkworms
have their seasons of rest, and to these seasons the
Chin ese giv e distinguishing names. Th e first sleep,
which takes place on th e fourth or the fifth day after