. Insect architecture. Insects. 338 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. It is well known in our manufactures, particularly in rope-spinning, that in cords of equal thickness those which are composed of many smaller ones united are greatly stronger than those which are spun at once. In the instance of the spider's thread, this principle must hold still more strikingly, inasmuch as it is composed of fluid materials that require to be dried rapidly, and this drying must be greatly facilitated by exposing so many to the air separately before their union, which is effected at the distance of about a tenth of an i
. Insect architecture. Insects. 338 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. It is well known in our manufactures, particularly in rope-spinning, that in cords of equal thickness those which are composed of many smaller ones united are greatly stronger than those which are spun at once. In the instance of the spider's thread, this principle must hold still more strikingly, inasmuch as it is composed of fluid materials that require to be dried rapidly, and this drying must be greatly facilitated by exposing so many to the air separately before their union, which is effected at the distance of about a tenth of an inch from the spinnerets. In the following figure each of the threads represented is reckoned to contain one hundred minute threads, the whole forming only one of the spider's common Aiinglethread of a Spider, (neatly magnified, w that,fir the mall apace represented, the lines are shown us parallel, Leeuwenhoeck, in one of his extraordinary micro- scopical observations on a young spider not bigger than a grain of sand, upon enumerating the thread-. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Rennie, James, 1787-1867. London, M. A. Nattali
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1846
