054r - - - - - [continued]
to some of the upper boards, and one can tell when they want to climb up when, on the leaf, they stretch out and raise their heads and a part of their bodies when one takes them to heather branches where they stop and begin to spin their prison, which we call cocoon, generally the size of a pigeon egg, although there are some which are much bigger because it sometimes happens that two or three and up to 11 worms put themselves in a cocoon, which is hairy and cottony, around which ball is filoselle or floret, and of the cocoon, which is a white, solid, continuous and firm skin, silk is made. The cocoon is so hard that it is cut with difficulty with a fingernail. And yet to leave its prison, the worm eats away at it on one end, and after having stayed inside, living on its own juices for three weeks, it comes out, reduced in size by half. Because when it begins to spin, it is as long as a ring finger and has eight legs, and when it comes out it is less than half as long and only has four legs. On the other hand, it has become a butterfly and has wings; however, it does not fly. There are males and females. As soon as they come out of the cocoon, the male mates with the female, and they are put on a piece of white linen where they lay their eggs, which will not be good and viable if the male was not given to her. When the male has detached himself from a female, one must get rid of it because it would not be good to give it to another female. They finish spinning and laying eggs in three weeks and around Saint John’s Day. And then one keeps their eggs and grain until Holy Week, as mentioned. Some worms spin among the leaves and make their cocoons there without climbing high.
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