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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



no inconsiderable obstacle to the progress of 

 a man through the woods where they abound, 

 as a friend of mine at Sierra Leone has not 

 unfrequently experienced. In France, gloves 

 and stockings have been fabricated of their 

 silk, but in this country it is characterised 

 by extreme fragility. Hence, the spider's 

 web is mentioned by Falconbridge, when im- 

 pressing on Hubert, after the death of 

 Arthur, the conviction, that the slightest 

 and most trifling thing would be sufficient 

 for his destruction, if accessory " to this 

 deed of death :" — 



" If thou didst but consent, 



To this most cruel act, do but despair, 

 And if thou want'st a cord, the smallest 



thread 

 That ever spider twisted from her womb, 

 Will serve to strangle thee." 



King John, act iv. sc. 3. 



Slight, and even simple as the threads of the 

 spider may appear, they are not so in reality ; 

 and this forms one of the many examples in 

 which the eye of the Naturalist discerns 

 some concealed elegance or complex me- 

 chanism, in things which are daily before 

 " the eyes of men," and yet are never seen 

 as they are seen by him. The observations 

 of Reaumur and Leuwenhoeck have incon- 

 testibly shown that a " spider's thread, even 

 spun by the smallest species, and when so 

 fine that it is almost imperceptible to our 

 senses, is not, as we suppose, a single line, 

 but a rope composed of at least four thousand 

 strands !" * 



In the equipage of Queen Mab, 



" The traces of the smallest spider's web," 



are in keeping with the rest of her appoint- 

 ments ; and well were they adapted for her 

 regal state, for no Eastern potentate ever 

 harnessed his foaming steeds by traces of so 

 complicated a structure. 



The web of the common house-spider 

 (Epeira diadema) has long been employed 

 in stopping the effusion of blood. This has 

 not escaped the all-pervading eye of Shaks- 

 peare ; and hence, Bottom, in addressing one 

 of his fairy attendants, says — 



" I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good 

 Master Cobweb. If I cut my finger, I shall 

 make bold with you." 



Midsummer Night's Dream, act iii. sc. 1. 



Its medicinal virtues do not end here, for 

 Professor Hentz states, that the web " is 

 narcotic, and has been administered inter- 

 nally, in some cases of fever, with success. "f 

 The threads composing the webs of the 

 house-spider appear to be formed entirely 



* Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 405. 

 f Silliman's *' Journal of Science," October, 

 1831, p. 103. 



of one kind of silk, and flies are caught by 

 their claws being entangled in the meshes. 

 It is not so with those which are situated in 

 the open air, and which exhibit so much re- 

 gularity of structure, as to be termed Geo- 

 metric. Mr. Blackwall, in the " Transac- 

 tions of the Linnsean Society," states, that 

 " they are composed of three kinds of 

 silk ; and that although the nets lose their 

 viscidity when exposed to the influence of 

 sun and weather, yet, when artificially pro- 

 tected from the effects of these, they retain 

 it almost unimpaired for many months."* In 

 these webs, the threads forming the circles 

 are closely studded with minute dew- like 

 globules, which, in fact, are composed of a 

 viscid gum, sufficiently adhesive to retain the 

 insects which fly into the net. Those con- 

 centric circles lose their viscidity by ex- 

 posure to the air, and in ordinary cir- 

 cumstances are renewed every twenty-four 

 hours. f 



Shakspeare seems, in my opinion, to have 

 been aware that there are differences in the 

 habits of spiders ; some of them construct- 

 ing nets, and others not doing so. I am led 

 to form this belief, from a passage in the 

 " Midsummer Night's Dream." Titania is 

 reclining on the bank " whereon the wild 

 thyme blows," and her fairy attendants are 

 obeying her commands. " Sing me now 

 asleep :" — 



" Weaving spiders, come not here ; 

 Hence, ye long-legged spinners, hence." 



Act ii. sc. 3. 



By " weaving spiders," must of course be 

 meant some of those which construct nets in 

 the open air ; but the words " long-legged 

 spinners," do not seem to me to be a 

 synonymous expression, but to denote an 

 entirely different tribe. Of those long-legged, 

 or shepherd spiders (Phcdangidce) , which do 

 not spin nets, but seize their prey by vio- 

 lence, Latreille says — " La plupart vivent a 

 terre, sur les plantes, au bas des arbres, et 

 sont tres-agiles; d'autres se cachent sous la 

 pierre, dans la mousse."^: They, of course, 

 would naturally abound in situations similar 

 to that in which Titania is placed. The 

 word " spinner," may justly, I think, be 

 considered as a generic term for spider, and 

 not as indicating that the one to which it is 

 applied actually spins. This inference does 

 not appear to be unnatural or impro- 

 bable ; — 



" The court awards it, and the law doth give it;" 

 Merchant of Venice, act iv. sc. 1. 



and, if I am right in my conjecture, the 

 passage furnishes another proof that what 



■* " Entomological Magazine," No. v. p. 446. 

 f Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 419. 

 % Le Regne Animale, tome iii. p. 114. Paris, 

 1817. 



