In the breeding season the male spins a bell or thimble near that of the female and joins the two by means of a silken passage.
The thread spun by the jenny could not, however, be used except as weft, being destitute of the firmness or hardness required in the longitudinal threads or warp. Arkwright supplied this deficiency by the invention of the spinning-frame, which spins a vast number of threads of any degree of fineness and hardness.
Mosquitoes are rarely troublesome; gadflies, and a large spider (hangeyu), which spins a web resembling golden silk, are common, as are scorpions and centipeces.
The blower then heats the end of the cylinder again and rapidly spins the pipe about its axis; the centrifugal effect is sufficient to spread the soft glass at the end to a radius equal to that of the rest of the cylinder.
The two great centres of production are Oldham, in which American cotton is chiefly, though not exclusively, spun, and Bolton, which spins the finer counts from Egyptian or Sea Island cotton.
