[Illustration: FULL GROWN LARVA--SHOWING POSITION IN MOLTING.[2]] [Illustration: MALE MOTH.[2]] [Illustration: FEMALE MOTH.[2]] [Illustration: SIDE VIEW OF CHRYSALIS.[2]] [Illustration: BOTTOM VIEW OF CHRYSALIS.[2]] [2] The cuts on this page and balance of cuts in the story of silk copyright by the Corticelli Silk Mills. The silk moth exists in four states--egg, larva, chrysalis, and adult. The egg of the moth is nearly round, slightly flattened, and closely resembles a turnip seed. When first laid it is yellow, soon turning a gray or slate color if impregnated. It has a small spot on one end called the micropyle, and when the worm hatches, which in our climate is about the first of June, it gnaws a hole through this spot. Black in color, scarcely an eighth of an inch in length, covered with long hair, with a shiny nose, and sixteen small legs, the baby worm is born, leaving the shell of the egg white and transparent. ~THE SILKWORM—HOW HE DOES HIS WORK~ Small and tender leaves of the white mulberry or osage orange are fed the young worm which simply pierces them and sucks the sap. Soon the worm becomes large enough to eat the tender portions between the veins of the leaf. In eating they hold the leaves by the six forward feet, and then cut off semi-circular slices from the leaf’s edge by the sharp upper portion of the mouth. The jaws move sidewise, and several thousand worms eating make a noise like falling rain. The worms are kept on trays made of matting, that are placed on racks for convenience in handling. The leaves are placed beside the worms, or upon a slatted or perforated tray placed above them, and those that crawl off are retained, while the weak ones are removed with the old leaves. The worms breathe through spiracles, small holes which look like black spots, one row of nine down each side of the body. They have no eyes, but are quite sensitive to a jar, and if you hit the rack they stop eating and throw their heads to one side. They are velvety, smooth, and cold to the touch, and the flesh is firm, almost hard. The pulsation of the blood may be traced on the back of the worm, running towards the head. The worm has four molting seasons, at each of which it sheds its old skin for a new one, since in the very rapid growth of the worm the old skin cannot keep pace with the growth of the body. The periods between these different molts are called “ages,” there being five, the first extending from the time of hatching to the end of the first molt, and the last from the end of the fourth molt to the transformation of the insect into a chrysalis. The time between the four “molts” will be found to vary, depending upon the species of worm. [Illustration: HOW THE SILKWORMS ARE REARED.[2]]