The spider spins its web with a gummy fluid from its own body. Each thread is made up of 4000 separate strands. The web is wonderfully made. The young spider begins its life in its perfect form; it does not pass through different stages, as the insects do.
Lesson 50
Parts of a Flower
"Our lesson today," said Fred, "was about the flowers. You know, Norah, we called the flowers the organs of reproduction. Their work is to produce new plants, which shall live after the parent plant is dead.
"Teacher had some wallflowers to show us in class, and as we have plenty in the garden, we may as well pick a few to talk about now.
"If we examine one of these flowers, we shall see that there is an outer covering, which holds it to the flower-stalk. This is called the calyx. I will remove it from the flower, and, you see, it is really a little cup into which the rest of the flower fits.
"It is made up of four little pointed
green leaves, which we call sepals. Teacher says that flowers have not all the same number of sepals. Some have more than this, some have less.
"When the flower was only a little bud, these sepals folded themselves round it to protect it fromwind, rain, and sun till it was fit to
burst open."