All the threads of our real silk is made by the silkworm. There are four stages in the life history of a silkworm. It is first an egg. This egg hatches into a worm. The worm becomes a chrysalis (krs´ å ls), and the chrysalis changes into a moth. It is the second stage-that of the worm-that you see pictured here. Silkworms are grown and tended in China and Japan. In the fall the parent moths are freed in a large room. They lay their eggs on sheets of white paper. These sheets are carefully kept in a cool place during the winter. In the spring they are put into incubators where the eggs hatch in about 10 days. It is a picture of one of these incubators that you see here. It is a simple affair-a two-storied box. In the upper one are shelves on which the papers containing the eggs are placed. In the lower one is the heating apparatus. The heat ascends about the eggs. It must be very carefully watched or the eggs will become either too hot or too cold. The Japanese man is taking the temperature the thermometer shows to make a note of it on his pad. The eggs are about the size and shape of turnip seeds and are of a grayish color. Through the thin shell on one end of the egg the worm breaks his way when the hatching time comes. As soon as the worms are hatched they are placed in trays, and given the ashes of mulberry leaves. This they feed on for a short while until they are large enough to eat crushed leaves. What is the life-history of a butterfly? What is the Japanese woman holding in her right hand? What is peculiar about the way in which the Japanese man is sitting? Do we produce any raw silk in this country? From what countries do we get most of our raw silk? Keystone ID: 14746 Note: All titles, descriptions, and location coordinates are from the original Keystone Slide documentation as supplied by the Keystone View Company. No text has been edited or changed.