Biology of Silk Worm
Adult moth is cream in colour. It lives for two or three days only. Mating takes place immediately after emergence. Each female moth lays about 300 to 400 brownish white seed like eggs in masses. Hatching takes place in 8 – 12 days. The caterpillars on hatching are about 3 mm long and dark in colour. They moult four times. The full-grown caterpillar is elongate about 5 cm long cylindrical, yellowish white in colour with a small anal horn. Larval period extends from 28 to 30 days. It produces a long continuous strand of silk to form an oval cocoon and takes about one or two days for constructing the same. Pupation takes place inside the cocoon and adult emerges in 10 – 12 days. Life cycle is completed in six to eight weeks.