184 LIFE AND HER CHILDREN. 
the spider bears it in her head, and, as we shall pre- 
sently see, pours it into her victim through these 
pointed weapons (/). 
But now, while we are talking of her, our friend 
the spider is beginning to grow restless, for as even- 
ing draws on and the temperature of the air and 
other signs promise a fine night, she is anxious to 
spin a new web, so as not to go supperless to bed. 
Have you any idea how she does this ? for she has 
nothing but her own body both to supply the 
material and the machinery for the work. 
Look carefully under her abdomen, and near the 
tip you will find six little nipples (s), looking some- 
thing like miniature copies of the teats of a cow. 
Under these nipples, inside her body, there are special 
glands, in which a kind of gum is secreted, and this 
dries when it comes into the air, and forms the silken 
thread from which the spider hangs, and out of which 
she forms her web. And now comes the almost 
incredible part of the story. These nipples, which 
are called "spinnerets? have not merely one opening 
like a cow's teat, but each one, tiny as it is, is pierced 
with at least a hundred holes, and when the spider 
begins her web, more than six hundred separate 
strands go to make the one slender thread which 
you see stretched out from her body. The four 
spinnerets nearest the tail give out the long threads, 
the two above, moving from side to side, weave the 
whole into one connected line. Nor is this all, for 
the spider can close any of the holes at will, and a 
fine or a coarse, a dry or a spangled thread comes 
from her body, according to the use she wishes to 
make of it. 
