CHAP. 26.—THE LARVÆ OF THE SILK-WORM-WHO FIRST INVENTED
SILK CLOTHS.
There is another class also of these insects produced in quite
a different manner. These last spring from a grub of larger
size, with two horns of very peculiar appearance. The
larva then becomes a caterpillar, after which it assumes the
state in which it is known as bombylis, then that called necy-
dalus, and after that, in six months, it becomes a silk-worm.[1]
These insects weave webs similar to those of the spider, the
material of which is used for making the more costly and
luxurious garments of females, known as " bombycina." Pamphile, a woman of Cos,[2] the daughter of Platea, was the first[3]
person who discovered the art of unravelling these webs and
spinning a tissue therefrom; indeed, she ought not to be deprived of the glory of having discovered the art of making
vestments which, while they cover a woman, at the same moment reveal her naked charms.
1. Called "bombyx" also; though, as Cuvier remarks, of a kind altogether different from the preceding one.
2. The first kinds of silk dresses worn by the Roman ladies were from
this island, and, as Pliny says, were known by the name of Coca vestes.
These dresses were so fine as to be transparent, and were sometimes dyed
purple, and enriched with stripes of gold. They probably had their name
from the early reputation which Cos acquired by its manufactures of silk.
3. This account is derived from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 19.