“Those people who rear silkworms always have a sheet of clean paper covering the floor of the cage before egg-laying commences. After the eggs are laid, they are found adhering to this sheet of paper. The paper is taken out of the larva cage, and those parts containing eggs are cut out with scissors.” “How many eggs are laid by one moth,” Frank asked. “From four to five hundred,” his uncle replied. “Let us get our larva cage cleaned out, and we will put these eggs in the lower part of it and await their hatching.” “Why in the _lower_ part,” Frank asked, as he set about cleaning the cage. “Because its floor is a drawer which can be pulled out. If you put them in the upper part, you must lay a sheet of paper on the floor first, for your silkworms must not be handled on any account.” “And how long do we have to wait for these eggs to hatch?” asked Tom. [Illustration: Larva Case.] “That depends altogether upon the amount of warmth they receive, Tom. They will remain unhatched ever so long if kept in a cool place; but whenever they are placed where they can get the necessary amount of warmth, they begin to hatch. Let us put them in the front window, where they can get most sunshine.” About a week after the larva cage was placed in the window, Frank reported to his uncle that some of the eggs had turned white. “Take your lens and examine carefully those eggs which have lost their colour,” said Uncle George. Lifting out one of the small pieces of paper with eggs on it, Frank examined it with the glass. “Oh,” he said, “these colourless eggs are just empty shells, and there are two small creatures crawling along the edge of the paper. How small they are! They are no longer than the breadth of a pin-head. They are almost black in colour, covered all over with hair, and have very large heads.” “Well, these are newly-hatched silkworms,” said Uncle George, “and they are already looking for food. Run out to the garden and bring in some fresh lettuce leaves.” Uncle George carefully dried the lettuce leaves before putting them into the cage. In two days all the eggs were hatched, and in their place were as many black, hairy, crawling little creatures with clumsy heads. Although they did not seem to eat much, they grew very rapidly. When three days old, they were fully twice as big as when hatched. In five days the silkworms seemed to have increased in number as well as in size. In fact, there seemed to be twice as many grubs as there were of eggs. Then Uncle George explained that half of these were not grubs, but simply empty skins. “The silkworm, in order to grow, must cast its skin,” he said. “It does this four times during its lifetime. Look out for another _moult_, or skin-casting, in four days’ time.” Four days later the grubs cast their skins again, just as Uncle George had said. They were now about half an inch in length, and much lighter in colour.