58 INSECT MANUFACTURES. 



At the present time (April 10th) ninety-six small 

 yellow-bodied spiders have come forth, and are 

 actively engaged in weaving their delicate webs 

 across the glass which contains them. A muslin 

 cover admits air to the interior, and these minute 

 insects appear perfectly healthy although deprived 

 of their natural food. Some sugar was placed in 

 the glass, but they do not appear to have con- 

 sumed any of it, although some of them have 

 been hatched for more than a fortnight. From 

 the appearance of the nest, more of these spiders 

 yet remain to be hatched. 



In the French experiments, spiders' nests in 

 large quantities were collected from the trunks 

 of trees, corners of windows and vaults, and 

 eaves of houses at the time above mentioned, 

 and from these a new kind of silk was obtained 

 by M. Bon, who declared it to be in no respect 

 inferior to that of the silkworm. It was after- 

 wards proved that he was greatly mistaken 

 in this respect ; yet the spiders' silk readily took 

 all kinds of dyes, and was actually wrought into 



