The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700

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Joseph Foster Bartham ( - )

References in Documents:
Consolidated catalogue of 1695: The Book of the Junior Proctor (MacGregor, ed.) [Addendum 7] Account of the great Spider given to the Museum by Joseph Foster Bartham Esqr. The Spider I send you with some of his web upon blue paper is a Native of Jamaica. He hangs his net between trees 10 or 15 feet asunder; His prey is wasps & other large flies. I have observed, the humming Bird, tho so swift in flight, carefully avoids the snare. A gentleman told me, that percieving one of these Birds ensnar'd, & the Spider running round him, binding him with his web, he first kill'd the spider & afterwards trying to disentangle the little bird, found it was kill'd. Children get the silk from these creatures by winding it from them, as silk is wound from the wormcases, which is contained between the large shell & the real backs of the creature within.