We now come to the very interesting account of the first introduction of silk-worms into Europe, which is given by Procopius in the following terms. (_De Bello Gothico_, iv. 17.) “About this time (A. D. 530.) two monks, having arrived from India, and learnt that Justinian was desirous that his subjects should no longer purchase raw silk from the Persians, went to him and offered to contrive means, by which the Romans would no longer be under the necessity of importing this article from their enemies the Persians or any other nation. They said, that they had long resided in the country called Serinda, one of those inhabited by the various Indian nations, and had accurately informed themselves how raw silk might be produced in the country of the Romans. In reply to the repeated and minute inquiries of this Emperor, they stated, that the raw silk is made by worms, which nature instructs and continually prompts to this labor; but that to bring the worms alive to Byzantium would be impossible; that the breeding of them is quite easy; that each parent animal produces numberless eggs, which long after their birth are covered with manure by persons who have the care of them, and being thus warmed a sufficient time, are hatched. The Emperor having promised the monks a handsome reward, if they would put in execution what they had proposed, they returned to India and brought the eggs to Byzantium, where, having hatched them in the manner described, they fed them with the leaves of the _Black Mulberry_, and thus enabled the Romans thenceforth to obtain raw silk in their own country.” The same narrative, abridged from Procopius, is found in Manuel Glycas (_Annal. l._ iv. _p._ 209.), and Zonares (_Annal. l._ xiv. _p._ 69. _ed. Du Cange._). In the abstract given by Photius (_Biblioth. p._ 80. _ed. Rotham_) of the history of Theophanes Byzantinus, who was a writer of nearly the same age with Procopius, we find a narrative, in which the only variation is, that a Persian brought the eggs to Byzantium in the hollow stem of a plant. The method now practised in transporting the eggs from country to country is to place them in a bottle not more than half full, so that by being tossed about, they may be kept cool and fresh. If too close, they would probably be heated and hatch on the journey[69]. [69] Transactions of the Society for encouraging Arts, Manufactures, &c., vol. xliii. p. 236.