A lust for science

from the anterior spinneret of a Spiny back spider (Castercantha sp.). The spider has been stimulated to secrete silk from its piriform gland spigots (orange and yellow). In the Spiny back spider, the orientation of the spigots is critical to the organization of the narrow-gauge secreted strands that are fused together to form the final silk strand. The scanning electron micrograph has been colored to emphasize morphological features. For more details, see Thiel et al., Biopolymers 1994, 34:1089–1097. (Image provided by Dennis Kunkel, Pacific Biomedical Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA.) Review