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white silky sulstance. There it is seen standing the whole day, and I never could 
ascertain how it fed. It has no web but a carpet, and is a harmless tho’ an ugly 
neighbour.” 
In Central Africa there is a spider which makes paper of a very fair quality. 
After selectins a spot for her nest she walks backwards and forwards over a square 
inch of surface until the space is covered with pure white paper ; in this she places 
from 40 to 50 eggs, she then makes a strip of paper about a quarter of an inch 
broad and with it carefully glues the square together. She wages a fierce war with 
cockroaches or any other insect that comes near. After three weeks of unremitting 
watchfulness, she leaves her nest in the day-time to hunt for food, but she always 
returns at night until the young are strong enough to cater for themselves. 
The colour of the silk of our spiders is mostly of a dirty grey, but in 
tropical countries the colour varies, red, yellow, and black, and with these they 
form a tri-coloured web, which they interweave with great skill. The threads 
forming the webs of spiders are not all alike. The radiating filaments are but 
little elastic, and are composed of one thread, whilst the more numerous concentric, 
or spiral circles, are extremely viscid, and the reason is this :—The threads of the 
cables and radii are perfectly simple, while the spiral threads are closely studded 
with minute globules of fluid like drops of dew which, from the elasticity of the 
thread, are easily separated from each other. These globules are very viscid, as 
can be easily proved by touching one or two with the finger, to which they 
instantly stick, or by throwing a little dust over the web, when the spirals will 
be found clogged with dirt while the radiating lines remain unsoiled. The viscid 
lines alone have the power of detaining unfortunate clients when they accidentally 
touch the web. Blackwell states that in a web of an average size there are as 
many as 87,360 pearly drops, and in a snare of 14 to 16 inches diameter there are 
120,000, and yet a spider makes such a web as this, if not disturbed, in less than 
three-quarters of an hour. 
There is scarcely a more interesting sight connected with this part of natural 
history than to watch a spider begin and finish its web. Take a female Zpeira or 
garden spider for instance, and suppose she has selected the most favourable spot 
she can find for her home under a leaf of a rose tree, where she makes a silken 
gallery, most frequently open at either end, to enable her to rush forward or 
retreat with equal facility. The next step is to extend a horizontal line between 
the branches. To enable her to accomplish this she exposes her spinnerets to 
the air and expels the fluid lines. The air drives them forward and they come in 
contact with a neighbouring branch, to which they adhere by their own stickiness. 
‘This is the beginning of the framework, which is finished by her ladyship 
dropping and swinging from point to point, or at other times, assisted by the air, 
she places a thread wherever she touches. The framework finished she comes to 
the middle of the horizontal line, attaches a thread to it, and drops on to the line 
which forms the lowest side of the framework ; here she fastens the other end of 
‘the thread. She next walks up till she reaches the middle, and this is to be the 
centre of the snare, aud here another thread begins. She then runs up the 
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