352 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



thread and raised its body perpendicularly, like h 

 tumbler standing on his hands with his head down- 

 wards ; but we looked in vain for this thread bending, 

 as we. had at first supposed, and going off double. 

 Instead of this it remained tight, while another 

 thread, or what appeared to be so, streamed off from 

 the spinners, similar to smoke issuing through a pin 

 hole, sometimes in a line, and sometimes at a con- 

 siderable angle with the first, according to the current 

 of the air,— the first thread, extended from the glass 

 to the spinnerets, remaining all the while tight-drawn 

 in a right line. It further appeared to us, that the first 

 thread proceeded from the pair of spinnerets nearest the 

 head, while the floating thread came from the outer 

 pair, — though it is possible in such minute objects we 

 may have been deceived. That the first was continu- 

 ous with the second, without any perceptible joining, 

 we ascertained in numerous instances, by catching the 

 floating line and pulling it tight, in which case the 

 spider glides along without attaching another line 

 to the glass ; but if she have to coil up the floating 

 line to tighten it, as usually happens, she gathers 

 it into a packet and glues the two ends tight together. 

 Her body, while the floating line streamed out, re- 

 mained quite motionless, but we distinctly saw the 

 spinnerets not only projected, as is always done when 

 a spider spins, but moved in the same way as an 

 infant moves its lips when sucking. We cannot 

 doubt, therefore, that this motion is intended to emit 

 (if eject or project be deemed too strong words) the 

 liquid material of the thread ; at the same time, we 

 are quite certain that it cannot throw out a single 

 inch of thread without the aid of a current of air. 

 A long-bodied spider will thus throw out in succes- 

 sion as many threads as we please, by simply blowing 

 towards it ; but not one where there is no current, as 

 under a bell-glass, where it may be kept till it die, 



