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thickeft part and placed it before the Microfcope, and ac- 
cording to my niceft obfervation, I judged that above 
one hundred of rhofe Threads laid together did not equal 
the Diameter of one Hair of my Beard 5 now fuppofing 
this Hair to be round, ten thoufand of the Fine Threads 
of a Spiders Web, are not thicker than one fingle Hair of 
£i Mans Head. 
Now if we add to this, as it is moft ceriainly true, that 
four hundred young Spiders, when they firft begin to 
fpin, are not, one with another, bigger than one tuU 
grown Spider, and that each of thofe young ones is pro- 
vided with all the Working Inftruments of the old one, 
'twould follow, that the fmalle^ Thread of fuch a young 
Spider is 400 times fmaller than that of a great one 3 and 
if fo, then 4000000, Threads of a young Spider are not' 
To big as the Hair of ones Head ^ but then again, if we 
confider of how many parts one of thofe fmalleft Threads 
confifts, we mufl: ftand aftonifht, and own we knov/ no- 
thing. 
I obferv'd thar half the young Spiders were fmaller in 
the hinder part of their Bodies than the reft, which laft I 
fuppos'd to be Males. 
A^lfo that moft of thefe young Spiders had bor'd inta 
the \Veb, and in a manner lodgd themfelves therein, 
which made me fufpefi: that for want of other Meat tbey 
had fed on the Web, and the more becaufe fome of them 
vvcve grown pretty big. 
On the 30th oi January mo{k. of them were employed 
in weaving their Web, fo that the Glafs fwarm'd with 
em. 
On the 8th of Fehruajy I could perceive that many of 
the Spiders had eat one another up, and at the very time 
I lookt on them, there were four upon one, whom they 
had almoft devoured, and here and there I Taw pieces of 
Legs, and now the Shells of the Barren Eggs were eat up 
Vo clear, that I could fee nothing of 'em remaining. 
On 
