THE SPIDER AND HER WEB.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20385, 17 April 1928, Page 13

THE SPIDER AND HER WEB.

Tho web of the common spider is one of tho most familiar of sights; a faci> which is. apt to blind up to tho beauty of its construction, and also to its uniqueness. The only thing which can compare with iVin any way is the net with which the caddisworms' of fresh watei ponds and streams catch food. It is the female spider (writes '.' Zoologist " in T.P.'s Weekly) which makes the web and tends it, removing fragments whicn blow into it, and bearing away the Hies ■which become entailed in it. The threads which form the web are manufactured in a series of little elands known as spinnerets, which open near the bind eild of the body of the female. • They consist of a gummy material, which, when drawn out, forms an extremely fine thread which sets hard in the air. The first essential in the formation of the web is to draw. the outline. To do. this the female shoots out a thread on to a support which she carries on her hind feet. She then takes the thread, still fresh and sticky, to some convenient leaf or stick, where she securely fastens .t, drawing it tight with her claws. She then releases her hold and drops straight downwards, the thread streams out behind "nor, and so forms the first vertical side of flie wpb. The next things she does aio to construct a diagonal thread from corner to corner, to draw this tight, and then to proceed to the centre of it, from which she makes the radial threads, which form the firm foundation of the web. When all the spokes of the wheel are finished, she returns again to the centre, and, gradually working outwards, makca a loose, temporary spiral, which serves to hold the web together while she forms the permanent encircling threads. These are made oi the second typo of silk, which is much more sticky than the first, for it is they which entangle the prey. Last of all, the temporary scaffolding is cut away and the web is completed the whole process having taken no longer than half an hour. The spider now moves to cue side, but her whole attention ' remains tdeusSed on the web, on the edge of which her feet rest, and by means of which she feels every vibration —for, in spite of tht possession of eight eyC3, she is very sliortsighteS—taking appropriation action according to the nature of the vibration. As soon £s a' ffy, is caught. in the web, the waiting spider runs towards it and envelopes it in her third, and stickest. kind of silk by running round end round it. The prev is then killed by the poison which she injects into it, and then the spider sucks out the soft flesh and blood from within. Finnllv she easts nut tb" empty skin mid cleans up the web ready for the nest victim.