The San Francisco call., 1901-11-17
TIE ODD STORY
Of s SPIDER.

HAVE considerable respect for the
female spider, notwithsts nding the
II fact that she does not treat the male
very considerably. had an oppor-
tunity last summer to watch large one
that had web in the top Of a decaying
peach tree with so few leaves that 1t was
in plain view. I caught sight Of her when
watching some birds with my glass; She
seemed to be climbing from the top Of the
tree on nothing to a telephone wire some
fifteen feet away and somewhat higher
than her web When she reached the
wire she went around 1t and then back
In studying the situation found the web
was so located that 1t required cable
to hold 1t up. and the spider had IN some
way got one over the wire so far away.
This cable was, OF course, a slender stlken
thread which evidently she had thrown
out, and on account Of It's hghtness It had
fioated to the right place and became at
tached there by its glutinOus properties.
1t seems remarkable that 1t should have
adhered to the wire firmly enough to al
low so large an insect to climb over It,
which she did every day as long as
watched her, evidently to mend or
brains In which the ability to construct
its web and adapt 1t to conditions Is
highly developed. In an article In Cham
bers' Journal the following account OF how
the spider forms It's silken threads Is
given:
"One of the most interesting features
In the economy Of spiders Is their power
of emitting slender threads OF silk-like
substance called gossamer, with which
most of them construct mesh-like nets,
and a few long, dangling cables. by which
they are buoyed through the air with
nearly as much facility as though they
had been furnished with wings The ap-
paratus provided by nature for slaborat-
ing and emitting this gossamer Is 4 beau
tifuI piece Of mechanism.
within the animal there are several
little bags or vesicles Of gumny mat
ter, and these vesicles are connected
with q circular oriics situated In the alb
domen. Within this oriice are i've little
teats or splnnerets, through which the
gossamer is drawn It must not be con-
cluded. however, that there Is only ono
film Of gossamer produced by each spin
neret; the fact IL these teats are stud
ded with thousands OF minute tubes too
small for the naked eye to perceive. and
each Of these emits q thread OF incon-
ceivabIe hneness- These minute tubes are
known as spinnerules and the films which
proceed from them unite like 80 many
strands OF rope to form the thread OF gos-
samer by which spider suspends itself.
The finest thread which human mechan-
ism can produce Is like q ships cable com
pared with the delicate films which now
from the spinnerules Of the largest spider.
The films are all distinctly separate on
coming from the spinneret. but unite. not
by any twisting process, but merely by
their own glutinous or gummy nature.
Thus the spinning apparatus Of the dis
dained spider, when viewed by the eye
of science becomes one OF the most won
derful pieces OF animated mechanism
known to man The insect has great
command over this apparatus and can
apply 1t at will as long as the receptacles
within are replenished with the gummy
fluid, but as soon as this gum Is exhausted
all its efforts to spin are fruitless and It
must wait until nature. by her inscrutabls
chemistry, has secreted II from the food
which Is devoured d"-Phrenologic Jour
nal.