On Tue, 10 Dec 2002 13:48:52 +0200, Nadav Har'El <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> On Sun, Dec 08, 2002, Ira Abramov wrote about "Re: Hebrew Lashon Academy":
> > kurim are threads btw, and they don't come out of the spider's ass, but are
> > actually a product of sliva from its mouth.
>
> Are you sure about that? (not that it has anything to do with Linux...)
>
> I believe the webs *do* come out of the spider's "ass" (or rather, it's
> rear-end), not its mouth.
>
> It's not only more logical (if spiders walk forward...), but also according to
> http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/InfoNed/webthread.html
> (just something I randomly googled), "There are several glands located at
> the spider's abdomen, which produce the silken thread.". If you want to
> see where a spider's abdomen is, take a look at
>
> http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/InfoNed/body.html
I think that Ira has mistaken the spider for larva (Tola'at, like silk
worm). Here is the m-w.com entry on silk glands:
Function: noun, Date: 1870
a gland that produces a viscid fluid which is extruded in
filaments and hardens into silk on exposure to air: as
a : either of a pair of greatly enlarged and modified salivary
glands of an insect larva that produce a compound filament from
which a larval or pupal cover (as a cocoon) is spun
b : any of two or more abdominal glands of a spider that open
through spinnerets and produce a filament used chiefly in the
spinning of webs
As co-proposer of the "kurim" (for web), I have to support Nadav.
Here are some other URLs that describe the spider silk glands:
Australian museum online -
http://www.amonline.net.au/spiders/toolkit/silk/factories.htm
Carnegie Mellon university (for kids):
http://la.lti.cs.cmu.edu/callan/k12/ScavHunt2/insects/WW645.htm
(search for silk)
Some pictures of spiders: http://www.nhm.org/spiders/gallery.htm
A scanning electron microscope of silk secreting spider -
http://www.DennisKunkel.com/PublicHtml/Details_PopUp.asp?File_Name=95141A
Ehud
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