Afghanistan.—Silks are considerably manufac tured at Kandahar. In Kashmir, since 1871, silk is increasing. The silk of Herat, Jalalabad, Kabul, and Kandahar is chiefly consumed iu their domes tic manufactures.
The larvm of many European moths produce a strong silk ; the native silk-worms of America yield a material which has been manufactured into handkerchiefs, stockings, etc., by the inhabit ants of Chilpancingo, Tixtala, and other places of South America. The ancient 3Iexicans used the internal layers of white cocoons, which strongly resemble Chinese paper, as a material for writing on.
ll'ild silks.—Tho only cocoons at present utilized in India, besides those of the several species of mulberry-feeding worms of tho genus Bombyx, are those wild ones of five species of Attacus, viz. A. atlas, cynthia, Edwardsia, and Ricini, and perhaps A. selene, with eight species of Antherzea, viz. An. Asstuna, Frithii. Helferi, mezankooria, nebulosa, papilla, and Perotteti, and Cricula t rifenestrata.
The wild silk insects of British India are found on the following trees :—Artemisia, sp., Bauhinia parvillora, Boswellia thurifera, Careya sphxrica, Carissa carandas, Ca.ssia lanceolata, Celastrus mon tana, Chloroxylon Swietenia, Conocarpus latifolia, Dillenia speciosa, Ficus Benjamina, F. t'siela, F. religiosa, Lagerstrremia Indica, L. Parriflora, Morns, sp., Nauelea cadamba, Osbeckia, sp.,' Ricinus communis, Salmalia Malabariea, Syzigium jambolanum, Teetona grandis, Terminalia glabra, Ter. catappa, Ter. tomentosa, Ter. arjuna, Tetranthera lancexfolia, Tet. monopetala, Vatiea robusta, Zizyphus jujuba, Z. xylopyrus. In Ceylon, Antherma mylitta, Drury, feeds on the country almond (Terminalia catappa) and the Inching cornmunis or castor-oil plant.
The wad moth most commonly met with in Southern India appears to bo S. paphia. The caterpillar feeds on the leaves of the country almond tree (Terminalia catappa), whence it is often called the almond moth. It is also found on the leaves of the ber tree, Zizyphus jujuba, the casuarina, etc. The cocoons are ingeniously attached to the twiggy branches of the ber (Zizyplius jujuba) by a long stalk, terminating in a ring, encircling the branch. In the thicker foliage of the casuarina, the silk is woven among the leaves without the above provision. It has not been obtained in any quantity from this mime in the Madras Presidency.
Tassch silk cloth is much used for ladies' and children's dresses, and in most parts in India for native use, being worn by Hindus for certain ritual cerenionies, and while bathing.
Alunadabad has long held a prominent place as a silk-manufacturing city. Its kimkhabs and brocades, though not quite so rich as those of Benares, are much sought after in consequence of their durability and non-fading qualities of their gold tissues. Its mushroos are supposed to be the best in India, and its ordinary silk cloths are also in good demand.
Dr. Forbes Watson's Textile Fabrics of India includes silk piece-goods, and loongees and sarees of cotton and silk used conjointly, from Surat ; embroidery of gold and silver on silk from Satara ; silk piece - goods from Alunadnaggur ; silk piece-goo& and silk and cotton sarees from Wigan m ; silk and cotton loongees from I3ombay ; and silk and cotton sarees froin 'Dharwar. Ber liampore, near Kandesh, also manufactures silk, II and there are small colonies of weavers at Jin jerra., Yeola, Tanna, and Revdanda (in Colaba). The establishment of the manufacture at the two last places seems to be due to the Portuguese.
In Europe, the silk-worm is the caterpillar of the Bombyx mori. The eggs are smaller than g,rains of mustard seed, very numerous, slightly flattened, yellowish at first, but changing in a few days to a blue or slate colour. In temperate
climates they can be preserved through the winter without hatching until the time wben the mul berry tree puts forth its leaves in the following spring. The silk-worm, when first hatched, is about a quarter of an inch long, and of a dark colour. If supplied with appropriate food, it remains contentedly in one spot ; this is the case throughout its changes, so that there is no trouble in retaining it within bound.s, as there would be with some other caterpillars. After eight days' feeding and rapid increase of size, it prepares to change its skin, the first skin having becoine too small for its body. It remains three days without food, during which time a secretion forms on the surface of the new skin, which helps the cater pillar to cast off the old one ; but the operation 18 further facilitated by silken lines which tho insect casts off and fixes to the adjaceneobjects ; .these hold the old skin tightly, while tho cater pillar creeps out—Otits— The whole covering of the body is thus cast off, indallue, !hat of the feet, and of the teeth and jaws ; but it iii-do,ne with difficulty, and sometimes the skin breaks, an& portion of it remains attached to the hinder part of the body, compressing it, and usually causing death. The newly moulted worm is pale in colour, and wrinkled ; but it immediately recovere its appetite, and grows so rapidly that the new skin is soon filled out, and in five days another moult becomes necessary. Four of these moults and renewals of the skin bring the caterpillar to its full size, when its appetite becomes voracious, and the succulent parts of the mulberry leaves dis appear with extraordinary rapidity. The insect is now nearly 3 inches long ; its structure con sists of 12 membranous rings, which contract and elongate as the body moves. There are 8 pairs of legs, the first 3 pairs being covered with a shelly or scaly substance, which also invests the head. The mandibles are strong, and indented like a saw. Beneath the jaw are two small orifices through which the insect draws its silken lines. The silk is a fine yellow transparent gurn, secreted in slender vessels, which aro described as being wound, as it were, on two spindles in the stomach ; these vessels, if unfolded, would be about 10 inches long. The insect breathes through 9 pairs of spiracles distributed along the sides of the body. The caterpillar has 7 small eyes near the mouth ; the two spots higher up are not eyes, but portions of the skull. Anived at maturity, the caterpillar is of a rich golden hue ; it leaves off eating, and selects a corner in which to spin its cocoon. It first forms a loose structure of floss silk, and then within it the closer texture of its nest, of an oval shape. Here the caterpillar remains working until it is gradually lost sight of vrithin its own beautiful wiuding-sheet. Taking no food and emitting this large quantity of silk, its body diminishes one-half, and on the completion of its cocoon it changes its skin once 'nose, but then becomes an apparently inimituate chrysalis or atirelia, with a smooth brown skin, and pointed at one end. It remains in this corpse-like state for a fortnight or three weeks, when it comes forth a perfect winged insect,—the silk moth. In escaping from the cocoon, it pushes aside the fibres, first moistening the interior of the cocoon with tasteless liquid from its mouth to dissolve the gum which holds the fibres together. The mouth has no teeth, therefore it cannot gnaw its way out as generally supposed. Iu the perfect form, th( insect takes no food, and only lives two or thre( clays. The female dies soon after laying her eggs and the male does not long survive her.