1889-90-] The Garden-Spider as an Architect. 339 



The threads of the spider are produced from small knobs 

 at the extremity of the body, termed " spinnerets." The threads 

 are woven of thousands of delicate films, which, after being 

 forced out of the body in a semi-liquid state, and hardened 

 by the action of the air, are united in one single line by the 

 feet of the spider, and thus great strength is obtained by 

 making the line compound instead of single. My object 

 this evening, however, is not to speak of spiders as a whole, 

 but to record an interesting fact which was noted in con- 

 nection with a garden-spider who took up his abode and plied 

 his calling on the gatekeeper's box at the entrance to the 

 Eoyal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. Naturalists have re- 

 peatedly found pieces of wood, and even small pebbles, on 

 the net of the garden-spider — placed there, it was supposed, 

 for the purpose of steadying the web — so that what I have 

 to record is nothing new. But as the little creature in the 

 present instance was observed during the whole process, there, 

 is some excuse for bringing the occurrence under your notice. 

 The roof of the box in question projects slightly all round, 

 and on the edge of the projection facing the walk a garden- 

 spider had its floating habitation. The web was quite un- 

 attached at the lower extremity, and consequently was 

 affected by every breeze that blew ; but the sagacity of the 

 spider in selecting this site was apparent to any one looking 

 into the matter, as not only did the sj^ider secure his own 

 share of those insects doomed to perish in the orthodox 

 manner, but he also secured a large augmentation to his larder 

 in the shape of numbers of small insects which, dropping 

 from the tree overhead on to the top of the box, rolled from 

 thence into the web below. The spider, however, while 

 realising the advantages of the site, appears to have felt 

 that the position had its drawbacks as well, the chief 

 one being a little too much airiness. In what particular 

 manner this defect militated against the interests of the 

 spider we cannot determine with any degree of certainty. 

 It is a well-known fact that if you gently touch a spider's 

 web with anything light, the owner at once puts in an 

 animated appearance ; so it may be that the web, prior to 

 the improvement hereinafter narrated, was so airy that the 

 slight tremor cau.sed by a summer breeze may have appeared 



