XIV WEBS 343 
of fresh flakes falling into his sight, and twinkling like stars as 
they turned their sides toward the sun.” The ascent of a hill 
300 feet in height did not in the least enable him to escape the 
shower, which showed no sign of diminution. | 
The mortality among very young spiders must be exceedingly 
great ; indeed, this is indicated by the large number of eggs laid 
by many species, an unfailing sign of a small proportion of 
ultimate survivors. We shall have, by and by, to speak of some 
of their natural enemies, but apart from these their numbers are 
sadly reduced by the rigours of the weather, and appreciably also 
by their tendency to cannibalism. <A thunderstorm will often 
destroy a whole brood, or they may perish from hunger in the 
absence of an adequate supply of insects minute enough for their 
small snares and feeble jaws. In the latter case they sometimes 
feed for a time on one another, and it is even said that two or 
three of a brood may be reared on no other food than their 
unfortunate companions. 
The large and handsome Garden-spider, Lpeira diademata, 
has been known, when well fed, to construct six cocoons, each 
containing some hundreds of eggs, and some species are even 
more fertile, while their adult representatives remain stationary, 
or even diminish in number. 
Spider-Webs.—Some account has already been given of the 
external and internal spinning organs of Spiders. Within the 
body of the animal the silk is in the form of a gummy fluid ; and 
this, beg emitted in exceedingly fine streams, solidifies as it 
meets the air. It cannot be shot out to any distance, but the 
animal usually draws it out by its hind legs, or attaches it to a 
spot, and moves away by walking or allowing itself to drop. It 
has some power of checking the output, and can stop at will at 
any point of its descent: but the sphincter muscles of the 
apertures are but weak, and by steady winding the writer has 
reeled out a hundred yards of the silk, the flow of which was 
only then interrupted by the spider rubbing its spinnerets 
together and breaking the thread. 
There is, of course, no true spinning or interweaving of 
threads in the process, but parallel silken lines are produced, 
varying in number according to the special purpose for which 
they are designed, and sometimes adhering more or less to one 
another on account of their viscidity and closeness. 
