THE ARMATURE OF ORBWEBS : VISCID SPIRALS. 95 



retain perfectly tlieir viscidity. They appeared to have thickened, and 

 were of an amber color. At various angles or points of juncture between 

 the radii and spirals, larger globules or masses of viscid matter had formed 

 as though several beads had run together and settled there. I kept a 

 snare of this Argiope until September, 1888, nearly six years, at which 

 time the general form of the orb remained perfect, though of course all 

 the viscidity had disappeared, and the web lines were covered with in- 

 numerable motes of dust, vegetable fibre, etc. On the contrary, a snare 

 of Epeira tliaddeus kept under precisely the same conditions as above, had 

 in three months almost wholly lost the adhesive quality of the spirals and 

 scarcely a trace of the characteristic beads could be observed. 



Dr. Vinson 1 while hunting in a forest of Reunion (Africa) became 

 entangled in the huge snare of a Nephila. While detaching from his lips 

 ,, ,. . , the sticky threads pasted upon them, which he found to be 

 ^ ^ bitter, he made the reflection that at some future dav, no doubt, 



a medicine would be made from such threads, and formed into 

 pills would serve as a substitute for sulphate of quinine in cases of inter- 

 mittent fever. Spider webs have been frequently used in that way, although 

 the medical uses of that substance are commonly tliought to be limited to 

 that suggested by the redoubtable Bottom in Shakespeare's play, viz., to 

 stanch the flow of blood. The web which has been most commonly used 

 in this country''^ for such purposes is that of a tubeweaver, Tegenaria 

 medicinalis. A bolus of "Telea aranea," or spider web, used to be a not 

 infrequent prescription in Philadelphia. Perhaps the somewhat revived 

 interest in this odd remedy may be profitably directed toward the Orb- 

 weavers' snares as well. 



The gum of which the spiral beads are formed has a sliglitly acrid 

 taste, and it probably is of an acid nature. An associate in the Philadel- 

 phia Academy of Natural Sciences, Mr. Gavin W. Hart, said that 

 The Bead .... 



G A "d*^^^ *^^^ occasion while hunting in the woods he was frequently 



arrested by the webs of a large Orb weaver. Wishing to avoid 

 tlio uni)leasant contact with the viscid material, he used his gun to strike 

 down the web, pushing the barrel ahead of him as he passed among the 

 trees. In doing this, of course, some of the threads adhered to the gun 

 barrel. Three or four hours afterward he found that the barrel was quite 

 gummy, and where the thread was thickest it had removed from the gun 

 barrel the bluing, as it is called. Where the thread was thickest, the bluing 

 was removed the most. Several friends, who accomi)anied Mr. Hart on this 

 expedition, found that their guns were affected in the same way. 



^ Araneides des Isles Reunion, etc., page 22. 



2 See Dr. Chapman's " Elements of Materia Medit-a and Therapeutics," Philadelphia, 1825. 



