Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1902-09-05
Persimmon Worm
And the Silk Maker

| lnlb u lue DuSy beasOl Win tn'
persimmon worm, and he is closln,
the season by winding a cocoon
around himself so he can metamor
phose after slumbering fol- while IL
innocuous desuetude, as Il were, ant
flutter forth fuilaedged butterfly
says the New Orleans Times.Demo
crat.
The persimmou worm is not differ
ent from the silk worm in his process
Of metamorphosing He goes through
the same routine, pecks through q
tiny egg, wriggles his way up to the
Itull.fedged wormhood, spiIs a cocoon
around himself and closes out the
light, sprouts wings, crawls out, lays
eggs and dies. Re Is larger, more 70.
bust and bandsOmer than the silk;
worm. He is not so gentle. either.
He is inclined 70 be peeyish and re.
sents touch Of tho humai hand. He
looks somewhat Hike the huge green
worm which one may find in the 10
bacco batch. His body, from the
crown Of his head 10 his tail. is cover.
ed with sharp brittle prongs. Near the
head are four horns with speciled
beads set in them, probably for orna.
mental purposes, and the little specks
on these beads vary in tint and color.
They are by no means uninviting, and
are apparently glued and clamped like
the setting Of a finger ring.
Znpharla Cnth.,L nf 1907 nnaira
street drifted up into Camp street
yesterday with one Of these curious
looking worms and for a while he was
uncertain about how to classify It. He
thought he had suddenly discovered a
silk worm outfit In the persimmon
tree in bis back yard, and yet he
knew that silk worms would not eat
persimmon leaves. At least he had
heard they would not But he had oh.
served that his pets were good spin.
ners and good cocoon weavers. and
bore many other resemblances to the
wriggling toilers who clothe so many
o. the fine women VI the world. He
had read about the silk worM colony
at Peter Cristo's place In Dumaine
street, and he thought probably one
OF the butterflies had slipped away
from her nesting at Cristo's and had
found Judgment In his persimmon tree,
where she proceeded to lay her eggs.
and that the change In environment
and diet had brought abou. a change
In the structure, habits and appear.
ance of the progeny. He found his
persimmon tree simply covered with
big green, lustry worms, some OF them
devouriDg the sour and pickering
leaves, some Of them stretched at full
length on the twigs, while others were
busy spinning their large cocoons.
Surbeck brought into Camp street
with him limb from the persimmon
tree. II was about eighteen inches in
length and had eight large cocoons on
II. He brought one Of the worms along
as a sample. The cocoons were much
larger and coarser than tho kind made
by silk worms Coarser fiber. The co.
coons were firmly and strongly knit,
and II was almost impossible to tear
them with the hand. The threads
were fine, and had very much the same
gloss found in the cocoon of genuine
silk. But IL is a dirty.looking sort Of
thread.
The silkYorm Is wonderfully clean
about his work.
His architecture Is delicate and OF
an artistic kind.
The persimmOn worm goes about his
work like bad houssk eepcr. and the
result Is the cocoon is loose, badly ar.
ranged and unsightly. some of the CO.
coons in the lot now in Surbeck's pos.
session are about four inches long.
They differ from the silkwUrm cocoon
in another way. The main part of the
cocoon, the part which Immediately
clothes the form of the worm, Is drop.
ped into sack much larger than that
Immediately around the worm.
SilkwoTms will not eat anything but
mulberry leaves.
The persimmon worm will eat any
kind OF Leaf except the Leaf OF the ig.
~
Eina frh nyi,&in- A.