I wrote my first post for this blog nearly two months ago. I haven't been procrastinating getting back to this project. Far from it.
Over the past two months, my time has been consumed with producing instructional videos for my March Hare pattern. The Utah Quilt Guild accepted me as a teacher for their 2021 Remote Fest and I couldn't feel more lucky and honored. I just had no idea how time-consuming it would be to make the videos.
I worked hard to meet their deadline. I actually missed it by about a week. Luckily, that was ok. They set the deadline way ahead of the festival's start date--wisely anticipating something like this.
It was important to me to try to get my videos turned in ontime, so I threw myself into it. At the same time, I thought about this blog often. I kept feeling the tug of this subject. It felt like this blog was a magnet and I was the metal filings in a Wooly Willy. The blog magnet kept trying to draw me in. I could feel my atoms aligning their electrons with the flow of the magnetic field. But there was a plastic film between us and we could only get so close to each other, no matter how irresistible the attraction.
I apologize, Remote Fest. Comparing you to a plastic film between me and my destiny isn’t exactly a favorable comparison. Maybe that part of the analogy doesn’t hold. But the magnet and the filing are actually quite an apt description. It actually felt something like that.
I take that as a really good sign that silkworms, and the subjects I relate to them, are something that I feel passionately about. Or, at least, something I feel a very engaged curiosity about. I’ll allow myself to hope that means I won’t drop this project two or three posts in.
At last I find myself here again. Writing my second post. Unfortunately, fate has determined that I don’t have nearly the time I’d like to have to delve into the topic. Ug. Life. That’s probably why I’ve done so much rambling already. When I don’t have time to fine-tune and refine, I ramble.
All that is to say, I’ve chosen a fairly narrow and straightforward topic for this post:
The External Anatomy of a Bombyx Mori Silkworm
It’s going to be a shallow look at the external anatomy of a Bombyx Mori Silkworm, at that. I’m simply going to name the main external parts of this type of silk worm. If I have time, I will draw a picture and post that here with the parts labeled. If I don’t have time, I’m not sure what you’ll get. A blind description? I hope, for both our sakes, I can draw a decent picture fairly quickly.
So, I’m off to draw a picture and name the parts. I happen to have some worms in their very plumpest, cutest stage so I’m going to get one for reference. This should be fun! See you back here soon.
Here’s my drawing:
And here are some photos of my model:
Isn't she adorable? In the last photo, she’s reaching out to give you a tiny silkworm hug.
These photos and the photos I’ve just looked at online are the first time I've been able to see the tiny features on the head and face. It’s the first time I’ve had a glimpse of their eyes, which I simply can’t make out without enlargement. Some of the photos I saw bore, I thought, a slightly unsettling resemblance to a spider--with their hairs and multiple eyes. If I didn’t already love these creatures, that might have completely turned me off.
Here are a few quick scientific facts about the silkworm anatomy:
The silkworm’s thorax has three segments.
Each thoracic segment has one pair of thoracic legs, also known as “true legs.” Each true leg has three segments. These legs are not used for crawling but for holding leaves while feeding.
The abdomen has eleven segments. Only nine of these segments can be distinguished because the last three are fused together to form the apparent ninth segment, the anal plate, and the caudal legs.
The 3rd-6th and the last abdominal segments each bear a pair of abdominal legs, also called “false legs.” These are fleshy, unjointed muscular protuberances.
There are nine pairs of spiracles. These are the black dots along the lateral sides of the worms. They are found on the first thoracic segment and the first eight abdominal segments. They are breathing or respiration pores.
There are six pairs of ocelli, or eyes.
Here’s a link to the article where I sourced this information: http://hbmahesh.weebly.com/uploads/3/4/2/2/3422804/3.life_cycle-morphology_of_b._mori-o_e_word_13-14.pdf
Finally, here are a few quick non-scientific facts about silkworms:
The silkworm who was my reference model was quite mischievous and naughty. She pooped on me four times while I was drawing her.
I like to call the pads of their false legs “suction cups.” That’s actually not accurate. From what I have seen and read, they are more like disc-shaped pads covered in hooky hairs that give them a remarkable superpower called “clinging to things.”
Silkworms bear an uncanny resemblance to the Space Shuttle.
Am I right?
If you read this through to the end, thank you. I love you for it.
See you again soon!
Amy