Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/81

 It will be seen hereafter, that these "Indian Seres" were the inhabitants of Khotan in Little Bucharia.

The frequent comparison of Bombyces to spiders by the ancients suggests the inquiry whether they employed the thread of any kind of spider to make cloth, as was attempted in France by M. Bon. The failure of his attempt is sufficient, as it appears, to show, that the extensive manufacture of garments from this material must have been scarcely possible in ancient times. It is also to be observed, that the ancients, when they compare the silk-worm to the spider, refer to the spider's web, whereas M. Bon, not finding the web strong enough, made his cloth from the thread with which the spider envelopes its eggs.

But, although we have no reason to believe, that the web of any spider was anciently employed to make cloth, yet these accounts may have referred to worms, possibly varieties of the silk-worm, which spun long threads floating in the air. The