

120 NATURALISTS CABINET. 



Curious construction of the spider's web. 



For the purpose of forming this web, which is a 

 surprising part of the animal economy, the spi- 

 der is supplied with a quantity of glutinous mat- 

 ter contained in a receptacle near the extremity 

 of its body, and it has five teats for spinning 

 it into thread, the orifices of which it has also 

 the power of contracting and dilating at plea- 

 sure. When it enters on the construction of 

 this curious fabric, the animal first, distils one 

 little drop of glutinous liquor, which is very 

 tenacious ; and then creeping along the wall, and 

 joining its thread as it proceeds, darts itself to 

 the opposite side, where the other end is to be 

 fastened. The first thread thus formed being 

 drawn tight and fixed at each end, the spider 

 runs on it backwards and forwards, still doubling 

 and strengthening it, as on this depends the sta- 

 bility of the whole. The scaffolding thus com- 

 pleted, it makes a number of threads parallel to 

 the first, and then crosses them with others, the 

 clammy substance of which they are formed 

 serving, when first made, to bind them to each 

 other. At the bottom of the web a kind of fun- 

 nel is constructed, in which the little creature 

 lies concealed. 



This animal's web differs from those woven by 

 any human artist in this circumstance, that, in 

 our work, the threads extended in length are 

 interlaced with those that are carried on trans- 

 versely; whereas the threads of a spider's woof 

 onlytross the threads of the warp, and are glued 



