Research activities during the report period (July 1, 1983 to September 30, 1983) were initiated on August 15 when Mr. Rajan V. Kuruppillai was employed to work on the program. Prior to that time, yarn and fabric samples were acquired for the study. The major objective of the research carried out during the report period was to determine the tensile characteristics and the uniformity of the silk samples obtained in order to select a suitable fabric and/or yarn to be used in the study. A summary of the results is given in Section IIA. Ancillary activities carried out during the quarter are described in Section IIB.