358 
NEW ARANEIDJE OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 
time; but this evidently did not exhaust the supply, for on opening 
the abdomen the glands were found to be still partially filled. 
Further experiments led this enthusiastic naturalist to believe 
that N. plumipes could be bred in large numbers and utilised for 
its silk, and for this purpose he suggested that each spider be 
kept by herself in a wire ring surrounded by water, fed with flies 
bred for the purpose from old meat, and milked each day of her 
silk. Every day or two each spider should be taken down, put 
into a pair of stocks, and milked of its thread until it no longer- 
yielded. By adopting this plan an ounce of silk might be obtained 
from each spider during the summer. The silk thus reeled off is 
much smoother and more brightly coloured, as well as finer 
than that of the silkworm. Several threads would have to be 
twisted together to obtain one of workable thickness. Although 
the yellow silk when present in the web is so remarkably viscid 
and flexible, the same material when drawn off artificially is quite 
dry and far less elastic. 
Now, while it is possible to breed spiders of this or any other 
genus, and to obtain silk in the manner suggested, the difficulties 
in the way are far too great for any serious effort in the direction 
indicated by Wilder, as the space needed for keeping each spider 
by herself, and the amount of labour necessary to provide them 
with living food, and to draw off the silk, w T ould render the 
product too expensive for use. 
Spiders of the genus Nephila, when in captivity, become quite 
tame, and soon learn to distinguish their attendant. I have kept 
numbers of them, and have noticed that, although at first very 
shy, they quickly learned to take food from the hand, and also 
water when offered to them on a small camel-hair brush. Exceed- 
ingly voracious naturally, they can nevertheless exist for many 
days without either food or water. 
The males of this genus are veritable pigmies in comparison 
with the females, though in proportion to their size, the legs of 
the latter are considerably longer; the markings of the male, while 
similar in many cases to that of the female, are not as distinct, 
but run together and appear darker. 
