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The President in introducing Prof. Comstock said : 

 Je propose en exemples aux Entomologistes du Continent 

 nos collègues américains qui ont en nombre considérable traversé 

 l'Atlantique pour assister à ce Congrès. Je rappelle les titres 

 que M. le Professeur Comstock s'est acquis à la reconnaissance 

 des naturalistes par ses savants travaux, et je fais notamment 

 allusion à ses recherches décisives, en collaboration avec M. 

 Needham, sur la nervation des ailes des insectes. 

 J. H. Comstock then read a paper entitled : 



The Silk of Spiders and its Uses. 



Silk production, he said, had reached its highest develop- 

 ment in spiders, in which seven different types of silk glands were 

 to be found. The original use of the silk was doubtless for the 

 protection of the eggs. The different kinds of silk described. 

 The method by which the spider swathes its prey in silk. The 

 " drag line," composed of a few strands of silk. The elastic 

 threads forming the foundation of the viscid spiral. The threads 

 of the egg sac. The swathing film of the Theridiidcv. The 

 stretching of the supporting threads, and their subsequent re- 

 laxation, causing the viscid coating to separate into drops. The 

 flat ribbon-like hackled bands of the Cribellatce, consisting of 

 two or four longitudinal bands, the " warp," and a viscid sheet- 

 like portion, the " woof." Structure of the hackled bands in 

 various families. The complicated hackled band of Filistata 

 hihcrnalis (cf. Vol. II., p. i). 



Le Président, en remerciant M. le Professeur Comstock de sa 

 communication si intéressante, exprime le vœa que son travail 

 puisse engager les jeunes entomologistes à s'attacher à l'étude, 

 si négligée aujourd'hui, des Araignées. 



The meeting then rose. 



