336 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



nal spinnerets, which may be seen by the naked eye 

 in the larger spiders, in the form of five little teats 

 surrounded by a circle, as represented in the figure 

 below. 



Garden Spider (Epeira diadema) suspended bij a thread pro- 

 ceeding from its spinneret. 



We have seen that the silken thread of a cater- 

 pillar is composed of two united within the tube of 

 the spinneret, but the spider's thread would appear, 

 from the first view of its five spinnerets to be quin- 

 tuple, and in some species which have six teats, 

 so many times more. It is not safe, however, in out- 

 interpretations of nature to proceed upon conjecture, 

 however plausible, nor to take anything for granted 

 which we have not actually seen ; since our inferences 

 in such cases are almost certain to be erroneous. 



