ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



91 



Fig. 53. 



and of tubes connected with these glands. The latter are gathered into clusters in the 

 six outward spinnerets. The threads from all the tubes unite in the spinning, and yet 

 in combination they form a thread so fine that it is only one- fifth the size of a silk- 

 worm thread. It is so perfect that it has 

 been used for marking divisions in scientific 

 apparatus, for taking measurements of ex- 

 treme delicacy and exactitude. 



The female spider is generally much 

 larger than the male. They do not live in 

 the same nest, for the lady is of a capricious 

 temper and has been known to fall upon and 

 devour her mate. Indeed the cannibalistic 

 tendencies of spiders are among the hin- 

 drances to rearing them with a view of em- 

 ploying their silk in manufactures. 



There are, however, several species of 

 spiders that frequent cellars, and that are of 

 more peaceable dispositions than many of 

 their kind ; and these have been reared for a 

 strange purpose. Fraudulent vintners after 

 bottling and laying down their wine in 

 cellars, have been ready to purchase spiders by the hundred at good prices. Set at liberty 

 in the cellars of these men the spiders 

 have speedily covered bins and bottles 

 with a drapery of web that has con- 

 veyed the idea of age, and imparted 

 a fictitious value to the wine. 



The expedition with which spiders 

 form their webs has ensured, it is said, 

 on several occasions, the safety of fugi- 

 tives. At a time of religious persecu- 

 tion in Europe, a man seeking a re- 

 fuge crept into an oven, and a spider 

 immediately commenced to spin its 

 web before the door (Fig. 54). Be- 

 fore the pursuers arrived, its work 

 was so far advanced that the mec 

 passed by the oven, remarking, " No 

 one has entered there." A somewhat 

 similar story is told by the Jews in 

 regard to David, when he was in hid- 

 ing from Saul, in the Cave of Adul- 

 lam. 



The perseverance of spiders in 

 forming their webs under difficulties 

 is remarkable. The well-known story 

 told by Sir Walter Scott concerning 

 Robert Bruce and the spider exemp- 

 lifies this, and has thus been versified by Eliza Cook 



Fig. 54, web of an orb-weaver. 



BRUCE AND THE SPIDER. 



King Bruce of Scotland flung himself down in a lonely mood to think 



'Tis true he was monarch, and wore a crown, but his heart was beginning to sink, 



For he had been trying to do a great deed to make his people glad, 



He had tried and tried, but couldn't succeed, and so he became quite sad. 



