
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~054r~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


on some of the high shelves, & at that time, one knows
when they want to climb up when, on the leaf, they
hau lengthen & raise the head & a part of
the body. At that time one carries them to the heather branches
where they stop & begin to spin their prison, which one calls
cocoon, commonly the size of a pigeon egg, although
one finds many much bigger because it sometimes happens that two or
three & up to xi worms are put in a cocoon, which is hairy
& downy all around &, the hair of which is
ferret-silk or
floret; & from the
cocoon, which is a white, solid, continuous & firm skin, silk
is made. The cocoon is so hard that one only cuts it with difficulty
with a fingernail. And, however, for leaving its
prison, elle the worm gnaws it at one end,
& after having stayed inside living on its own sap
il for three weeks, it comes
out, diminished by half. For when it begins to spin, it is
as long as a ring finger & has eight feet, &
coming out it shorter by half & only has 4 feet. On the
other hand, it has become a butterfly & has wings, without
flying however. And there are male & female. As soon as they come
out of the cocoon, the male charges the female & one puts them on a
white linen, where they make their eggs. Which female would not
be good & profitable if the male was not given to her. And when the
male has detached himself from a female, one needs to throw it, for it
would not be good to give it to another. They have completed spinning
& making their eggs in three weeks &
around Saint John's Day. And at that time one keeps
their eggs & seed until Holy Week, as
on is said. Some spin among the leaves & make
their cocoon there without climbing high.



The silk of the cocoons where there are

