Question

It is necessary to kill pupa by boiling cocoon in water at right time. Why

Answer 1

Caterpillars feed on mulberry leaves. After reaching the sufficient size the caterpillar spins a cocoon and spends its pupal stage inside. Cocoons need to be unravelled to get silk. After growing, the caterpillar which must have turned into a butterfly by undergoing metamorphosis must eat its way out the cocoon. So there is very little possibility of getting silk from such a cocoon. To get silk, the cocoons are put in boiling water during the process of which pupae die. Approximately 15 silkworms are killed to make a gram of silk thread, and 10,000 are killed to make a silksari.

Answer 2

when it is not done at proper time the pupa may grow into butterfly and we cannot convert it into silk back