122 THE MICROSCOPE AND ITS LESSONS. 



of animals, fatally. From the spinnerets of a spider the 

 wheel of a toy steam-engine has drawn out 150 feet per 

 minute, continued for from three to five minutes; and 

 some years ago, from one spider 18,000 feet of silk were 

 thus drawn, resembling spun glass, and measuring one- 

 fifth less in diameter than that drawn from a silkworm. 

 The quantity of silk equal to that drawn from a silkworm 

 would require the work of more than six spiders; so that, 

 as it takes 3500 silkworms to produce one pound of silk, 

 nearly 23,000 spiders would be required to produce the 

 same quantity. A pair of stockings is said to have been 

 made from this silk,* and there was a report in the news- 

 papers not long ago of a present of a dress, from the 

 Emperor of Brazil to our good Queen, made entirely from 

 the silk of 17,000 Brazilian spiders. What a curiosity ! 



I have already said something about the spider's 

 quarrelsome disposition, but I have not told you one very 

 remarkable illustration of a spider's wisdom when it has 

 paid the penalty thereof in the loss of a limb. When 

 one leg has been bitten off in the struggle with an 

 adversary, the damaged spider will quietly retire into 

 seclusion, and, with the sharp jaws of its own mouth, 

 separate the injured member from the joint, when it will 

 grow again. 



There are some good people who think that by self- 

 denial they can cure the body of its evil propensities. 

 Everybody knows what this too often leads to when the 

 " fast " is ended. So is it with spiders. One kept under 

 glass for ten months, without food, when released attacked 

 another spider, and carried off limb after limb. During 

 its imprisonment it had eaten three of its own limbs, 

 each stump being properly removed at the joint, re- 

 appearing in the new growth. 



* Kirby and Speuce. 



