404 HISTORY OF LAOE. a cravat and ruffles were presented to King Charles II. by the governor of Jamaica; and at the exhibition of 1851 a dress of the same fibre was presented to the Queen, which her Majesty was graciously pleased to accept. Caterpillars have been made to spin lace veils by the ingenious contrivance of a gentleman of Munich. 25 These veils are not strong, but surprisingly light: one, a yard square, would scarcely weigh five grains, whilst a patent net veil of the same size would weigh 262. Asbestos has also been woven into lace ; and a specimen of this mineral lace is, we have been told, in the Cabinet of Natural History at the Garden of Plants, Paris. 25 “ He makes a paste of the plant which is the usual food of (lie caterpillar, and spreads it thinly over a stone or other flat substance; then with a camel’s hair pencil, dipped in olive oil, he draws upon the coating of paste the pattern he wishes the insects to leave open. The stone being placed in an inclined position, the caterpillars * are laid at the bottom, and the animals eat and spin their way up to the top, carefully avoiding every part touched by the oil, but devouring the rest of the paste.”—Encyclopedia Bri- tannica. * rhalanapandilla.