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SUNDAY MAGAZINE or NOVEMBER. 6, 1904
11
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SILKWORMS are not the
only silk-spinners for
instance, there are cer
tain sea-shells that are allied to the common mussri
and which, extraordinary as it may seem, produce a
strong and beautiful quality of silk.
The pinnas (from the Latin word signifying a wing)
as they are called because of their shape, possess the
power of spinning, with what is called the foot, a
large number of threads, in the aggregate
forming the cable or byssus by which
the' moor themselves to the particular
spots under the water that they select to
occupy. Gibbon the historian tells of a
woman of rank in ancient Rome who wore
a magnificent dress woven of pinna silk.
There is now in the British Museum a pair of gloves
made of the byssus of the giant pinna, a species
hat sometimes attains the length of two feet, and
gloves and purses of the same material may' be
bought at any time in the cities on the Mediter
ranean coasts.
The Queen of Bavaria is said to have once worn a
dress of a still more remarkable fabric woven of silk
actually spun by clothes-moths, whose specialty has
always been supposed to have been to destroy, rather
than to produce materials of which clothing is made.
A Mr. Habcnstrect, it appears, having noticed that
the larva, or grub, of a particular kind
of clothes-moth called the Tinea paddla
spun an extremely delicate and fairy-like
silk, set to work to make fabrics composed
of this silk. An opportunity insurmount
ably difficult first encountered in carrying
out his purpose was the fact that the flat
patch of silk spun by each of these larva;
measured only about half an inch square;
but by placing the larv.-c and making
them spin in close proximity to each
other he discovered that the squares
united at the edges and produced
a continuous fabric. Mr. Hah
enstreet constructed a num
ber of models of paper,
oiling the parts not to
be covered with silk,
and by setting a great
number of the clothes
moth larva: at work on
the surface of his models
he succeeded in produc
ing a balloon about four
feet in diameter, two
sliauls literally as
light as a feather, and
a seamless dress with
sleeves. This dress,
presented to the
Queen of Bavaria and
worn by her over her
court costume, a frock
for which baby
clothes-moths not on
ly spun the material
but made it up as
well, is the most deli
cate thing imagin
able. That which, in
the well-known fairy
tale, the King's son
drew through a finger
ring scarcely could have been finer or more compress
ible. It is, indeed, light to a fault the merest zephyr
is enough to carry the whole dress away.
In the first half of the eighteenth century an enter
prising and enthusiastic little Frenchman, M. Bon,
turned his attention to spider-webs, and dis
covered what to him was a new and interesting fact:
that female spiders when they had laid their eggs,
immediately proceeded to weave webs of strong
silken threads, forming cocoons about them. He had
conceived the idea that spiders might, to some extent
at least, take the place of silkworms, and be made
to furnish materials for silk and satin fabrics. It is
true that the web used by spiders to capture unsus
pecting flies proved on trial altogether too frail and
flimsy to be woven into fabrics; but he believed that
he had found what he really required in the silk of
which spiders' cocoons are composed.
After a competitive contest in which Bon set all
the different French species of web-spinners spinning
cocoons to discover which was the most available for
his purpose, he was led to adopt the "Thomisus"
spider, or "short-legged silk-spider," as he called it,
as the most productive. He collected all of these
that he could, hiring a number of persons to go in
search of them.
As soon as he had procured one he put it by itself
y James CarHer
A A r
Ev J
1. Silh Spider of Madagascar; 2. SilK Spider of
America i 3. Male of SilK Spider, Showing
Relative Size
in a little perforated paper box. After a protracted
imprisonment in these miniature Bastiles, during
which time Bon found his time principally occupied
in catching flies and feeding them
to his prisoners, he inspected his
paper cells and found to his great
delight that the majority of the
spiders had beguiled the weary
hoursof their confinement by spin
ning cocoons. Bon removed the
cocoons from the paper boxes, put
them into warm water and washed
them thoroughly. Next he boiled
them for three hours in water in
which was dissolved soap, saltpeter
and gum Arabic. When taken out,
and the soap rinsed from them, the
cocoons were seen to be composed
of fine, strong,
ash-colored silk.
They were carded
after being dried
thoroughly. The
carding was an
easy matter, and
he affirmed that
the threads he ob
tained were finer
and stronger silk
than those pro
duced by the silk
worms. However, there
happened to be a
rival experimentalist
in the field at the
time the celebrated
Rene Antoine Fer
chault de Reamur.
As soon as the latter
became aware that
an obscure individ-
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Termed
to find out some
things about spiders.
he lost no time m having himself despatched
by the Royal Academy of Paris, of which he was
a prominent member, to investigate the mat
ter. There could be
only one result All
of Bon's statements
were discredited and
his claims inconti
nently dismissed In
vain the poor man
wore gloves and
stockings of spiders'
silk and presented
them to learned soci
eties. After the ex
penditure of time,
lalor and money, he
retired to hide his
head in the obscurity
from which he had
temporarily emerged,
while the nobly-born
dc Reamur wrote a
paper on the possi
bility of spiders
being used to pro
duce silk a famous
C Bi Ji 'Ul paper, which became so widely
known that the Chinese Em
peror caused it to be translated
into Chinese. But the noble French people
never forgot good M. Bon and his spiders.
Pere Camboni, a French Roman Catholic
missionary, when sent to a mission in Mada
gascar, noticed with surprise the enormous spider
webs that spread networks of golden wire over the
trees and bushes in the gardens of the quarters occu
pied by his fraternity. The threads composing these
webs were so strong that, rcmcmlwring Bon and what
he had accomplished with French spiders, it occurred
to him to try what could be done with the greatly
superior silk of the Madagascar spiders.
He began by collecting the numerous webs, and
with infinite patience he carded and spun them;
but the fabric woven from this silk, though immensely
strong, was commercially of no value, on account
of the irregularity of the threads. Determined not to
be beaten, however, he tried by every means in his
power to obviate this difficulty, and at last managed
to draw the silk directly from the abdomen of the
spider, inclosing the insects in old match-boxes for
the purpose. It is precisely this principle which is
followed in the schools of Madagascar to-day, and
the good father can honestly claim to be the inventor
of the system.
The French have taken the subject seriously, and
professional schools have been founded for the scien
tific propagation and the cultivation of the spiders
and for the instruction of the natives in winding,
spinning and weaving the silk. These schools are
due to the initiative of General Gallieni, and arc the
most useful works instituted by that energetic officer,
supplying as they do immediate employment for
the natives, as well as forming a nucleus of an
industry whose end in this age of progress it is im
possible to foresee. The spider, which the natives
call "HalabcV belongs to the Xephila, a genus of
large spiders found in tropical and semi-tropical
countries, and noted principally for the size and
strength of the webs they spin. Captured in the
mango groves and brought to the school in large,
square baskets, they require immediate attention,
or the opening of the baskets, sad to relate, will reveal
in ecch a striking and undeniable instance of the
' survival of the fittest" in perhaps one solitary
survivor, who has eaten up all its fellow-prisoners.
Xot only does my lady feed upon her companions,
but when occasion offers has no hesitation in devour
ing her husband. Indeed, he is an insignificant, half
starved, dingy-looking mite, not more than a tenth
the size of his mate, whom he fears and worships.
When united to the spider of her choice, having inconti
nently eaten all her unsuccessful suitors, Madame
Halabe begins to look- about her for some locality
where provisions for herself and her coming brood
are likely to be found close at hand. Many of the
spiders discover these in the immense mango groves of
the Royal Gardens at Tananarivo. the Capital of
Madagascar, and here the creatures are to be found in
great numbers.
As soon as they are taken from th- baskets they
are placed in a case divided into pigeonholes or
square cells like those in which letters arc placed in
countrv post-offices. A spider is placed in each cell.
aal of the name of with the abdomen projecting on that side of the cell from
Bon was presuming which the silk is Jto be drawn. The bodv is caught
and secured by aMfat piece of wood in which a half-moon-shaped
notch is cut. This piece slides
up and down across the back of the cell, and
is adjusted to catch the spider just in front
of the abdomen and hold it motionless. The
legs are brought for
ward, and they and the
head and forward part
of the body are in the
cells, while the ab
domen emerges le ond
it on the farther side
of the notched piece
of wood. Great care
is exercised in placing
the spiders in theinells
so as not to hurt them.
The threads are now
drawn from the ab
domen of the halabcs.
This is done by gently
laying a finger on each
spider in turn, and
softly withdrawing the
hand.
The native girls
have a delicate touch
and hy light and skilful
manipulation manage
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