What Happened to 200,000 Spiders. Illustrated

The story of nineteenth century investigation into the nature of spiders.... “February, 1865, when it was suggested to me to ascertain how much silk could be got from one spider, and to what extent it was possible to obtain and rear the insects themselves. This I readily undertook, for the investigation not only opened a rich and hitherto unexplored field of scientific research, but, if successful, would supply work and means of subsistence to the freedmen, whose steadily-increasing number on the sea islands was already giving concern to the General Government.”