VOL. XXVII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 545 



the fingers, in order to be put upon the distaff. These spiders bags are of a 

 grey colour when new, but turn blackish when long exposed to the air. It is 

 true, one may find several other spiders bags of different colours, and that 

 afford a better silk, especially those of the tarantula; but their scarcity would 

 render it very difficult to make experiments upon them ; so that we must con- 

 fine ourselves to the bags of such spiders as are most common, which are the 

 short legged ones. These always find out some place, secure from the wind 

 and rain, to make their bags in ; as hollow trees, the corners of windows or 

 vaults, or under the eaves of houses. And by getting together a great many 

 of these bags, it was that I made this new silk, which is nowise inferior in 

 beauty to common silk. It easily takes all sorts of colours; and one can as 

 well make large pieces of it as stockings and gloves, which I have done. 



After I had got together 12 or 13 ounces of these spider bags, I beat them 

 well for some time with the hand and a small stick, to free them from dust. 

 Then I washed them in warm water, till the water that came from them was 

 clear. After this, I let them steep in a large pot, with soap, saltpetre, and 

 some pieces of gum arabic, and let the whole boil 2 or 3 hours over a gentle 

 fire. I then washed them again with warm water, to free them from the soap, 

 and having let them dry for some days, loosened them a little between the 

 fingers, that they might be more easily carded by the common silk carders, 

 excepting that I caused them to use much finer cards. By this means I had a 

 silk of a very particular ash-colour, which is easy to be spun, and yields a 

 thread much stronger and finer than that of common silk. Which shows, that 

 all other sorts of work may be made of it; and there is no reason to fear its 

 bearing any trials of the loom, after having passed that of the stocking weavers. 



Having shown the usefulness and possibility of making this silk, the only 

 difficulty now lies in procuring a sufficient quantity of spider bags, to make any 

 considerable work of it. And this would be no difficult matter, if we could 

 breed spiders as they do silk-worms; for they multiply much more, and every 

 spider lays 6 or 700 eggs; whereas the papilios or flies of silk-worms, lay only 

 about 100; and of this number we must abate at least half, on account of their 

 being subject to several diseases, and are so tender, that the least matter hinders 

 them from making their bags. Whereas on the contrary, the eggs of spiders 

 hatch of themselves, without any care, in the months of August and September, 

 in 15 or l6 days after they are laid, and the spiders that laid them die some time 

 after. As for the young spiders that are bred from these eggs, they live 10 or 

 11 months without eating; and continue in their bags without alteration of 

 size, till the hot weather forces them to come forth and seek food. The rea- 



VOL. V. 4 A 



