bombyx

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A Linnean genus of lepidopterous insects, now the type of family Bombycidæ. The caterpillar of the Bombyx mori is well known by the name of silkworm. When full-grown it is 3 inches long, whitish-gray, smooth, with a horn on the penultimate segment of the body. It feeds on the leaves of the mulberry (in the United States also on those of the Osage orange), and spins an oval cocoon of the size of a pigeon's egg, of a close tissue, with very fine silk, usually of a yellow color, but sometimes white. Each silk-fiber is double, and is spun from a viscid substance contained in two tubular organs ending in a spinneret at the mouth. A single fiber is often 1,100 feet long. It requires 1,600 worms to produce 1 pound of silk. Greek missionaries first brought the eggs of the silkworm from China to Constantinople in the reign of Justinian (A. D. 527-565). In the twelfth century the cultivation of silk was introduced into the kingdom of Naples from the Morea, and several centuries afterward into France. The silkworm undergoes a variety of changes during the short period of its life. When hatched it appears as a black worm; after it has finished its cocoon it becomes a chrysalis, and finally a perfect cream-colored insect or moth, with four wings. For other silk-spinning bombycids, see silkworm. See cut in next column.
2. n. In conchology, a genus of pulmonate gastropods.
3. n. [lowercase] A wind-instrument of the ancient Greeks, probably sounded by a reed mouthpiece: so called from its shape.

Wiktionary

1. n. Any member of the genus Bombyx of true silkmoths, whose caterpillars often feed on mulberries.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) A genus of moths, which includes the silkworm moth. See silkworm.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. type genus of the Bombycidae: Chinese silkworm moth