Note 14 — BOOK III.
Rowland Smith translation
Tatius is supposed to mean the silkworm, which he calls πτηνός, from its changing into a butterfly.
"Quid nemora Æthiopum molli canentia lanâ Velleraque ut foliis depectant Seres."—Virg. G. ii. 120.
In the 10th Book of the Ethiopics, the productions of the silkworm are called "ἀραχνίων νήματα καὶ ὑφάσματα."