New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-01-21

may be called vOraciOus As they ap-
prOach their torpOr they raise their heads
with q waving motion, and their appetite
ceases. The worm, arrived at maturity,
diminishes in size by disohArgiRg its excre-
mentitious matter, and becomes trans-
parent. AS soon as the worms begin TO give
out the silky fibre they should be put on
the bush or branches provided for them to
spin their cOoOonB. In three days the worm
completes it's cocoon, which is left upon the
bush about five days longer to HeasOn it.
Twelve or thirteen ounces OF coooons Will
produce one ounce of seed or eggs, unless
the males be too many in proportion to the
females or the moths not all very robust
(stOut). Finally, 100 females can give 40, 900
eggs, which, If they all come out well,
would produce 100 pounds of silk, and more
for some breeds, In which 200 coeoons make
pound; it would then be 200 pounds. 1t is
TO be understood that these figures can only
be approximative, still they often prove to
be correct in small breeding. The moths
live tor about twelve days from the break
ing out of the cOcoons. If the seed has not
been impregnated it remains ever yellow and
after while dries up, while that which has
acquired the lilac color stays round, slig htly
fattened, but always tull till the next
spring. 1t is left to dry where it was laid,
for some days, when it is removed to q
place cosl and dry. The series of trans
formations or changes of skin which the
silk worm undergOes are like those of any
other caterpillar; it lncloses itself in the
most admirable tissue, and becomes q
ehrysalie and then butterfly. Examined
with q magnifying glass, the insects head,
its mandibles, its thread-spinning appa
ratus, legs, skin and all its organs, exter-
nal and internal, are curiously and wonder
fully fashioned.
Amarked swelling, covered with wrinkles,
at the fore part of the body looks like the
= - - =.
OF II, and contains greasy liquid. The
hard part, which forms the snout, is the
head; it is composed of indented mandibles,
set side by side, hard, strong, movable,
very fit to take hold of the leaf every way,
making the first cut on the sides as well as
in the middle, from their very birth; the
other part of the head is the filiere or
threRder, kind of membraneous appara
tus, set with muscles, which presses as
they pass, and strongly joins to-
gether, by means of q gummy cub
stance, two silk threads go adherent
that they can be severed only by means
of powerful chemical agents. These two
silk threads are slipped out of two inner
reservoirs, full of g transparent liquid,
which hardens in the sir, and becomes
thread by phase of nature, easier recorded
than explained. Two black points adorn
the head of the silk worm; come people
think they are eyes, some say they sre not.
The feet are artioulate, membraneous, and
fitted with hooks, whose principal use is to
fix the insect in any position. There are six
of them in front, Rrticulate, used for mo-
ton, and sight st the back, msmbran-
eous, whose principal use lie to fix the insect
in any position; they are called false feet,
and are heightened, taken in, and expand.
ed, according to the insects wants. Twelve
rings, alternately widening or near
ing each other, are used for looOmo-
ton; last OF it, upon the extreme back,
is q prOtuberanoe, kind Of tail, the
use Of which is unknown. At each side of
the body there are nine black points. They
are apertures which supply constantly to
the larva the large amount of air which it
needs so much. Inside nearly 5000 muscles
have been counted, used for lOcOmotiOn.
The intestinal tube extends in a straight
line along the whole length of the body; it
presents many inside divisions, and is ex-
ternally surrounded with many small chan
nels, used for digestion. On each side of
that tube are the two long reservoirs which
contain the silky liquid; they extend to the
head, where they unite with the threader or
fliere, thus forming two threads that join
on the outlet, as we have before said. 1t
was an error, very generally received, that
the silk thread was already formed inside
of the worm, but 1t lie now proved that it is
nothing but liquid, which hardens as soon
as it comes in contact with the outer air.
Net0 York Times.