October, 1909 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
409 
Cobwebs 
By Carine Cadby 
T IS only if we get up early that we see cob- 
webs in their full beauty. We must be up 
betimes if we mean to catch these silvery 
webs while their gossamer is still intact and 
their delicate designs not yet spoiled by the 
little wind that is sure to spring up when 
once the day has come. We must be 
weather-wise, too, if our heroism of early rising in wintry 
weather is to meet with its reward, and we can tell a little 
over night, for a still dampish evening usually means a still, 
misty morning. The beauty and visibility of the cobwebs so 
depend on atmospheric conditions, and unless there is the 
cold dampness in the air there will not be the rows of minute 
silvery bells on the cobwebs which emphasizes and make the 
strands visible and which are in reality infinitesimal drops of 
moisture. 
The webs are so fascinating in their early unspoiled 
beauty, for no two are alike. Each has had its own archi- 
tect, who seems to have made a special study of his own 
particular conditions and most cunningly used every natural 
advantage that came in his way. Then there are the distinct 
different kinds, two very obvious ones seen in any garden are 
the ones that remind us of tatted doilies, a circle, or por- 
tion of a circle with lines radiating called the Orbitilarie. 
Another, the thin: closely woven sheet of web suspended 
among branches, called the Relitelarie, which must take a 
lot of spinning. 
Our old childish idea of the spider spinning his one thread 
is rather knocked on the head when we learn about the 
silk glands, and how the silk issues from many papille and 
Beautiful but frail 
A flower of the mist 
is united into one strong thread. The hinder legs of the 
spider have this work to do, and if we watch when the 
spinning is going on, we shall see how busy they are, but it 
is the third claw in particular that is used for this purpose 
of arranging the web and uniting the different lines into one 
thread. It has been noticed that those spiders which spin the 
most exquisite webs (Eperides) have this claw very much 
developed, and in those spiders who hunt their prey instead 
of spinning snares this leg is entirely absent. 
Sometimes, too, as children, we have wound the strands of 
a web and wondered if something could not be made of 
such beautiful fine silken thread. About one hundred and 
sixty years ago a Frenchman named Le Bon had the same 
idea and actually succeeded in weaving stockings and gloves 
from it, but no cultivation of spiders for this purpose has 
ever succeeded, though it has once or twice been tried, be- 
cause the spider itself is such a voracious and cannibalistic 
creature. 
Altogether the spider itself is not an attractive character, 
and even his beautiful web loses a little of our admiration 
when we realize it is, after all, nothing but a cunningly 
woven snare. In it sits a cruel and relentless beast of prey, 
waiting to see its victim entangled and ready to dart out, 
bind him with fresh ropes and devour him. Also, its 
domestic traits do not show it in a much better light. In 
the courting season, unless the male spider be as big and as 
strong as the female, there will always be a tragic fate hang- 
ing over his head. If he fail in any way to please his exact- 
ing mistress, she very quickly and effectually disposes of 
him by eating him up! And, as in nearly all the species of 
Heavy with dew 
