gattinen.

1825 F. Rozier in tr. V. Dandolo Art of Rearing Silk-worms xii. 281 M. Dandolo..makes some observations on two diseases..called in Lombardy calcinaccio..and gattine.

1825 F. Rozier in tr. V. Dandolo Art of Rearing Silk-worms xii. 283 The change of the nature of the silkworm, when subject to the gattina,..is a real animal disease.

1825 F. Rozier in tr. V. Dandolo Art of Rearing Silk-worms xii. 283 By gattina is generally understood a worm that cannot accomplish the prescribed functions of nature.

1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 613/2 Owing to the ravages of gattine, the silk industry has greatly declined since 1864.

1888 E. A. Butler Silkworms v. 72 The most terrible of the diseases of the silkworm is pébrine, or pepper disease, which was formerly called gattine.

1954 E. M. Attwood Louis Pasteur x. 56 The silkworms were dying of a strange disease: they were covered with tiny black or brown spots, and they grew stiff and made little movements with their feet like a cat trying to scratch. One of the names given to this disease was gattine, from a word meaning a small cat.