THE DEADLY ART OF WEB WIZARDRY - Robert A Ginskey - April 1979

Robert A Ginskey

"Eeek! A spider!" Maybe it's the eight creeping legs or the sticky strands of cobweb that scare us. Whatever it is, few of us are particularly fond of spiders. Yet spiders .are among the world's most fascinating creatures. Over 50,000 different kinds are estimated to live on the earth. Some huge ones, like the Mexican tarantula, are big enough to eat a mouse. Others are so tiny they are hard to see with the naked eye. All spiders can spin silk. But, unlike the larvae of insects which spin from their mouths, spiders have a set of tiny spinnerets in the back underside of their bodies. These spinnerets can produce different kinds of silk for a variety of uses. Some spiders can spin a line of silk one-millionth of an inch in diameter! Yet this single thread has such elasticity that it can stretch one-fifth of its length before breaking. Its tensile strength is surpassed only by fused quartz fibers. Steel is weak by comparison. Yet surely the most amazing achievement of the spider is that marvelous architectural masterpiece known as the web. - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library