The Black Widow

Formidable is this creature small, As in her web the victims fall; Attired in her dress of black, With ruthlessness she makes attack, The poisonous drop she then secretes, The prey is doomed and death it meets. In a dusty corner of an old woodshed or among the rafters of an attic, one frequently finds beautiful works of art—delicate silken webs are they, geometrically perfect in design—the product of a small arachnid.  Perhaps we may take time to admire their weaving, but seldom are we...