88 



SPIDER GOSSIP. 



coarse. It is obviously easier, Mr. Froude says, to untwist a 

 thread which only contains three strands, than one containing 

 eight. True ; but, since spiders' threads are not spun, nor made 

 of twisted strands at all — what then ? If Mr. Froude himself be 

 not making fun, I think that some youthful and untidy astronomer 

 must have invented the little fiction about the special breed of 

 spiders to account for the condition of his unswept and cobwebby 

 chamber. 



Discharge-tubes from spinnerets of Epeira diadema : a, large tube 

 from third pair of spinners ; 6, small tubes from the same, 

 showing how the ducts from the glands terminate ; <■, small 

 tubes from second pair of spinners. Magnified x 330 diameters. 



The next question is, Where does the silk come from ? In 

 the section drawing, Fig. i of my last paper, is a general view of 

 the silk-secreting organs, which are called *' glands " or strainers, 

 because they strain the elements of the silk from the surrounding 

 fluids of the body. They are clusters of small bags, and the 

 long muscles which move the spinnerets run down the abdomen 

 through the midst of them. The glands are of different sizes 

 and shapes, the most numerous sort being those which supply the 

 upper and middle spinners. The glands, like the discharge-tubes 

 of these two pairs of spinnerets, are very much alike ; they are 

 irregularly egg-shaped, and a small cluster of them is given in Fig. 9. 



