56 



INSECT MANUFACTURES. 



brated naturalist Reaumur, and he found that the 

 silk is spun from five papillae, or small nipples, 

 placed in the hinder part of the body ; these serve 

 the purpose of so many wire-drawing irons, to 

 mould a gummy liquor, which dries as it is drawn 

 out and exposed to the air. 



On pressing the body of a spider, the liquor 

 flows into these nipples, by applying the finger 

 against which, dis- 

 tinct threads maybe 

 drawn out through 

 the numerous open- 

 ings ; and, what 

 is very astonish- 

 ing, every separate 

 thread is made up of 

 innumerable smaller 

 threads, so that 

 Reaumur thought 

 himself far within 

 the limits of the 



truth when he Stated SPINNING APPARATUS OF THE SPIDER. 

 that each of the five (Greatly magnified.) 



