NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. sic

in ancient authors, concerning the extravagant price ofprecious stones and pearls among the Konians, as well asthe general use of them by persons of all ranks , arecollected by Meursius de Luxu Romanorum , cap. 5.; andy Stanislaus Robierzyckius, in his treatise on the famesubject, lib. ii. c. 1. The English reader will receivesufficient information from Dr. Arbuthnot, in his valuableTables of ancient coins , weights , and measures ,p. 173, &c.

NOTE XXIII. Sect. II. p. 59.

M. Mahudel, in a memoir read in the academy of in-scriptions and belles lettres in the year 1719, has collectedthe various opinions of the ancients concerning the natureand origin of silk, which tend all to prove their ignorancewith regard to it. Since the publication of M. Mahudel’smemoir , P. du Halde has described a species of silk , ofwhich I believe he communicated the first notice to themoderns. " This is produced by small insects nearlyresembling snails. They do not form cocoons either roundor oval like the filk-worm , but spin very long threads ,which fasten themselves to trees and bushes as they aredriven by the winds. These are gathered, and wroughtinto silk stuffs, coarser than those produced by domesticsilk-worms. The insects who produce this coarse silk arewild. ” Description de l’Empire de la Chine, torn. ii. folio,p. 207. This nearly resembles Virgil’s description,

Velleraque ut folils depectant tenuia Seres.

Georg. II. ijx.

An attentive reader of Virgil will find, that, besides allthe other qualities of a great descriptive poet, he possessedan extensive knowledge of natural history. The nature andproductions of the wild silk-worms are illustrated at greaterlength in the large collection of Memoires concernant

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