Observation of spiders and their stings
Date
21 June 1701
Creator
Unknown, Artist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p27
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 198mm
width (page): 165mm
width (page): 165mm
Subject
Description
One image in a letter by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society. Leeuwenhoek had the image drawn up for him.
Fig. 3: the stings with claws of a spider.
Fig. 3: the stings with claws of a spider.
Object history
Printed as figs 1-8, anatomy of spider in A. Leeuwenhoek, ‘Concerning spiders, their way of killing their prey, spinning their webs, generation, etc.’, Phil. Trans. vol. 22, no. 272 (July 1701), pp. 867-81. [NB the pagination of this article runs from 867 to 882 and then continues with a duplication of the numbers 875 to 881, i.e. a total of 23 pages.]
‘I caused the limner to look at some of the threads, as they came out of the spider’s body, who was forced to own that there was no describing them either with pen or pencil and that they could hardly be engraved on copper plates, however I have sent them as well done as I could’ (p. 873).
'In the said Figure [5] at W the working instruments stood as thick by one another as they do between R and S, but because it is opposite to the sight, and consequently was not easily to be distinguisht, I order’d the limner to leave that place empty. […] I made the Limner turn this instrument about, to have his opinion how many quills or reeds he thought there might be, upon which he told me that the number was above one hundred’ (p. 876 [first occurrence of page no.]).
'The teeth mentioned in it may be seen in the Repository of the Royal Society in Gresham Colledge' (p. 881 [second occurrence of page no.]).
Also printed in:
A. van Leeuwenhoek, Sevende vervolg der brieven (Delft: H. van Krooneveld, 1702), pp. 328-65.
A. van Leeuwenhoek, Epistolae Ad Societatem Regiam Anglicam (Leiden: J. A. Langerak, 1719), pp. 312-45.
The Journal Book mentions on 6 August 1701, 'Mr Leeuwenhoeck's Letter containing a large account of Spiders, their Instruments for spinning their Webs, killing their Prey, &c was read. It was thought very curious, and he was order'd the thanks of the Society' (JBO/10/226).
‘I caused the limner to look at some of the threads, as they came out of the spider’s body, who was forced to own that there was no describing them either with pen or pencil and that they could hardly be engraved on copper plates, however I have sent them as well done as I could’ (p. 873).
'In the said Figure [5] at W the working instruments stood as thick by one another as they do between R and S, but because it is opposite to the sight, and consequently was not easily to be distinguisht, I order’d the limner to leave that place empty. […] I made the Limner turn this instrument about, to have his opinion how many quills or reeds he thought there might be, upon which he told me that the number was above one hundred’ (p. 876 [first occurrence of page no.]).
'The teeth mentioned in it may be seen in the Repository of the Royal Society in Gresham Colledge' (p. 881 [second occurrence of page no.]).
Also printed in:
A. van Leeuwenhoek, Sevende vervolg der brieven (Delft: H. van Krooneveld, 1702), pp. 328-65.
A. van Leeuwenhoek, Epistolae Ad Societatem Regiam Anglicam (Leiden: J. A. Langerak, 1719), pp. 312-45.
The Journal Book mentions on 6 August 1701, 'Mr Leeuwenhoeck's Letter containing a large account of Spiders, their Instruments for spinning their Webs, killing their Prey, &c was read. It was thought very curious, and he was order'd the thanks of the Society' (JBO/10/226).
Related fellows
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723, Dutch) , Naturalist
Associated place