In the island of Cos existed, from a very early age, the art of rearing silkworms and weaving silk. As these insects, however, fed on the leaves of the pine, the ash, and the oak, the white mulberry not having been yet introduced into Greece, the silk they produced was very different in quality from that of China. The art of unwinding the cocoons and spinning the threads was invented by Pamphila, daughter of Plates,[1303] who thus became the benefactress of her country, whose fabrics were universally admired for their delicacy, fineness, and transparency, since they allowed the whole form and colour of the body to be distinguished through them, like the gauze chemises worn by the Turkish ladies in the recesses of the harem.[1304] Another kind of silk was manufactured by the ancients from the floss-like beard of the pinna marina, or silk-worm of the sea,[1305] found on the coasts of Asia Minor, Sicily, and the Balearic isles. This kind of silk was evidently, at one period, held in the highest estimation, since we find the emperors of Rome bestowing robes of it as a mark of their imperial favour on the satraps of Armenia. In modern times, however, this branch of industry has been almost totally neglected, though very warm and beautiful winter gloves and stockings are still manufactured from it at Tarento. A pair of these gloves was considered of sufficient importance to be presented as a gift to Pope Benedict the Fourteenth.[1306] ----- Footnote 1303: Aristot. Hist. Animal. v. 19. Plin. Nat. Hist. ix. 26. Footnote 1304: Lady Montague’s Works, t. ii. p. 191. Footnote 1305: Shaw, Travels in Barbary. Winkelmann, i. 499. Footnote 1306: Winkelmann, Hist. de l’Art. i. 499. Æschyl. Agamem. 855. ----- But not for lightness and fineness only were the silks and other delicate fabrics of the ancients valued. They were variegated[1307] with stripes, lozenges, the figures of birds and other animals, sprigs, flowers,[1308] and stars,[1309] inwoven into their texture, and of the most brilliant and beautiful colours. ----- Footnote 1307: Plut. Aristid. § 16. Winkelmann, Hist. de l’Art, i. 492. Herod. vii. 67. Footnote 1308: Plat. de Repub. t. vi. p. 401. Footnote 1309: Athen. xiii. 45. xii. 50. Cf. Winkelmann, i. 499. Gitone, Il Costume Antico e Moderno di tutti i Popoli, t. i. p. 94. Tav. 15. -----