TCD MS 10516 folio 76 verso
[12th October 1916] and delicate fibrils. These float freely in the lightest air and serve to support the more compact and single thread that follows them from the spinnerets. Thus the first filament of the snare is composed of a long single line, ending in a free cluster of the finest, almost invisible fibrils; a structure beautifully adapted to sail on the wings of the finest breeze.
(b). The spider does not allow the filament to trail away from the spinnerets in search of a chance attachment. It supports the thread with the claws of its second tarsus and tests its every quiver and motion. With the filament curved over the tip of its tarsus, it is really fishing for an attachment, using the most delicate of lines and the most sensitive of fingers.