The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous ... - Cd3wd.com

160 CULTIVATIOX AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.
ance. Mr. Bon fancied that this objection could soon be over-
come, and that the art of domesticating and rearing spiders, as
practised with sillc-worms, was to be attained. Carried away
by the enthusiasm of one who, having made a discovery, pur-
sues it with ardor undismayed by difficuhies, he met every ob-
jection by comparisons, which perhaps were not wholly and
strictly founded on fact. Contrasted \\ath the spider, and to
favor his arguments, the silk-worm in his hands made a very
despicable figure. He affirmed that the female spider produces
600 or 700 eggs ;
while of the 100, to which number he hmit-
ed the silk-worm, not more than one-half were reared to pro-
duce balls. That the spiders hatched spontaneously, without
any care, in the months of August and September ; that the
old spiders dying soon after they have laid their eggs, the young
ones live for ten or twelve months without food, and continue
in their bags without gro\\-ing. until the hot weather, by put-
ting their viscid juices in motion, induces them to come forth,
spin, and run about in search of food.
Mr. Bon's spider establishment, was managed in the follow-
ing manner : — having ordered all the short-legged spiders
which could be collected by persons employed for the purpose,
to be brought to him, he inclosed them in paper coffins and
pots ; these were covered with papers, which, as well as the
coffins, were pricked over their surface with pin-holes to admit
air to the prisoners. The insects were duly fed with flies, and
after some time it was found on inspection that the greater
part of them had formed their bags. This advocate for the
rearing of spiders contended that spiders' bags afforded much
more silk in proportion to their weight than those of the silk-
worm ;
in proof of which he observed, that thirteen ounces
jdeld nearly four ounces of pure silk, two ounces of which were
whereas stockings made
sufficient to make a pair of stockings ;
of common silk were said by him to weigh seven or eight
ounces.
It was objected by some of Mr. Bon's contemporaries, that
spiders were venomous ; and this is so far true that a bite from
some of the species is very painful, producing as much swelUng
as the smart sting of a nettle. Mr. Bon, however, asserted that