Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-04
SPIDER SILK MAKERS
VALUE OF THE LARGE MADAGAS-
CAR SPECIES.
Interesting Data Furnished by United
States Consul Hunt-Difdculty
in Securing Thread.

Interesting Information regarding silk
producing spiders in Madagascar is contain
ed in a report made by United States Con-
| sui Hunt at Tamatave. Referring to the
question recently raised to the practical
uses to which the webs Of large NADIA
gascar spider might be applied to replace
silk for woven fabrics. he says. he knows
from visits to the interior that the webs.
spun many feet across the walks or shady
| avenues of gardens are sufficiently strong
to hang thereon light bamboo walking
cane. At the Paris exposition of 1900
whole piece of fabric IS yards long and IS
inches wide, was exhibited which was WOW
| en- out of this web, for which it was neces-
| sary to provide 100000 yards of spun thread
of "A strands. For it's manufacture 25,OO0
spiders had to be brought into requisition,
and these were procured by Offering the
natives so much hundred; but not know
| ing ignoring the purposes for which
the insects were required, and having a
get-rich-quick desire, they brought them In
by basketsful, mostly dead. So 1t was
found necessary for the winding-off ma
chimes to go to the spiders. instead of call
ing in the spiders to the filatories. How
ever the piece of cloth was completed. and
was of shimmering golden-yellow color.
Idea an Old. One.
1.-THE idea of obtaining silk from the
SPIDER says Consul Hunt, sis an old one,
as distinguished men discoursed on the sub
ject as long ago as ITO in France. but the
first study of this Madagascar spider
(halabe, big spider) came up some seven
years ago, and the spinning of its web was
then undertaken. 1t is only the female that
spins.
THE first difficulty in securing the thread
direct from the insect consisted in contriv-
ing how to secure the living spider as to
| wind off by some mechanical process from
the insect. This was originally performed
| by combining the spiders in empty match
boxes with the abdomen protruding, which
could be compared to SO many reels from
which the filatory winds them off. The eX-
traction of the web does not apparently in
convenience the insects, although care has
| to be taken not to injure them. From that
stage was derived frame of twenty-four
small gullotines, in each of which a spider
| is secured in such a manner that on one
side protrudes the abdomen while on the
other the head, thorax and legs are free.
| This precaution of keeping the legs out
of the way is necessary, because the spi-
ders, when their secretions are spun off in
| this fashion, are liable to break Off the WEB
| with their legs.
ut appears, in the opinion Of many, to
be an established fact that the Madagas-
car spiders web is capable of being woven
| into cloth which might warrant its cultlva-
| ton for purposes of textile industry. The
| idea of using cobwebs as hemostat1c was
known to the Greeks and Romans, and be-
| fore the present antiseptics were brought
| into use by medical science 1t was IN uni
versal use for stopping the flow or blood
| from wounds and cuts. From an industrial
| point of view, the silk of the spinning
spider Epeira) has been known for CEN
turtles, even by the savages of Paraguay,
and in the seventeenth century one Alclde
dOrbigny in South America ordered pair
| of trousers of the material. Consul PUN
acher, in his report of December 26, 1899,
refers to the existence of a spinning spider
| in Venezuela, which is apparently the same
insect.
The Madagascar Species.
"The Madagascar spider in question is the
| Nephila madagascariensis, and combines all
| the characteristics of Arachnida in gen
| eral Its bite Is not dangerous, although
| the irritation caused by Its legs is annoy
| ing. The egg which produces this spider is
| laid by the female in a silky cocoon, one
| inch in diameter, of a yellow color at nrSt,
but turning white after an exposure or Two
or three months to the air, at the end of
| which time several hundred insects, the size
| of a pin head burst the she'll and come out.
| Three months later the female is two ana
| one-half inches long, while the male re
| mains only one-sXth of that size. The fe-
male is generally black, lives in solitude,
| and only tolerateS the presence of the male
| at the moment of procreation. The spiders
are carnivorous and by preference frequent
| the forests. In some of the wooded gardens
| in the suburbs of the capital, especially the
| old royal parks, they may be seen in mil
| lions and would give the impression of be-
| ing gregarious but this is not so, 1t being
| the abundance of food which brings them
| together in seeming peace and amity; but
so soon as the supply fails, they fight and
! devour each other
Early Attempts to Rear Them.
an the early attempts to rear them 200
| were placed IN wire-coth case; they spun
| their webs over the walls of their prison I'M
| til it was so completely covered that no
mosquitoes or other insects could get in.
| Thus deprived of food on the principle of
| the survival of the fittest the stronger went
| to devouring the weaker until only few
| were taken out alive, but these had attained
| an enormous size.
| This spider Is little disposed to migrate
| from it's abode, and submits, without resist
| ance, to the manipulation of the flatOry.
! The first experiments in Madagascar were
| due to Catholic missionary, and his ex-
perience proved that after the laying period,
| or formation of the web, it be reeled
month, after which the spider dies, having
| yielded about 1900 yards. Native girls do
| the work Each one has a straw basket at
| her side every morning filled with live
| spiders, and another basket to receive them
| after they have been wound off. One dozen
| are locked in at a time, the ends of their
| webs drawn out, collected into one
| thread, which is passed over a metal hook
| and the reel is set in motion by pedal
So soon as an insect gives out no more
| web it Is replaced without stopping the
=; wheel, and later on carried back to the
park, where it requires nine or ten days
before being ready for second operation
The cost of this silk web is high: $4,000
| yards of nineteen strands in thickness
| weigh only twenty-five grams 1886 grains),
which, calculating the time and labor of
procuring and preparing 1t, brings it up to
| $40 pound.