Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

Hie black widow spider and its poison fangs, as shown in the nini. leen to be many times smaller, but *ill this silk has 12 times the tensile trength of steel. These properties nalce it useful for cross hairs in opti-al instruments. A spider is shown pinning silk onto a spindle, so it may ater be used in optical instruments. A male spider is smaller than the emale and attracts her attention by ibrating the web. Following fertilizaion the eggs develop in the female ■'or a short period until they are ready 0 be laid. From 100 to 1000 eggs may )e laid at one time and laying may )ccur as often as twice a month in varm weather. The eggs are covered vith a Huid which evaporates shortly fter the female has covered them ith a thick protective sac. Close-ups if the egg clusters before and after vaporation of fluid are seen. Then the development of a single gg is followed in an extreme close-up s the yoimg spider comes to its surace wheie it rests in a waxlike image ill, through progressive molting, it merges from the egg and with others hews a hole in the protective egg sac. Jntil the third molt, males and felales are identical. The female molts ix or seven times to adulthood and his may take several months to a year. The black widow's enemies are hown as the preying mantis, mudauber wasp and the alligator lizard. "he most efficient however is the Pseiiogaurax signata fly. The tiny female y lays her eggs on the protective egg se and the maggots bore into the se and eat all the .spider eggs, then upate for ten days. Hatching is ac implished by the fly inflating a soft lembrane in the pupa case head until ; breaks then it makes its way through le spider-egg-case wall. All these hanges are followed by extensive use f extreme close-up photography. In closing, the spider's tremendous ;productive capacity is cited as more lan enough to repulse her enemies. ippraisal — The exceptionally exc-ellent techical qualities of this film's nse of ex treme close-up photography of structures and specimens so small as to be nearly invisible to the naked eye might be enough to recommend Black Wulotv Spider as a means of presenting the imobservable. However, skillful content development, attention to significant details while eliminating less important ones, and debimking of myths about this spider place this film in a position offering those qualities most sought in educational motion pictures. High school and college classes studying zoology will find in this film an excellent vehicle to observe the inter-relationship between two animals as their life c\'cles interact. The opportimit>' a film can provide to observe a single animal in details of its life is clearly evidenced in this remarkable production that is commendable throughout. The singular exception is its failure to use an oveqirint title for the unfamiliar name of the Pseudogaurax sigiwfa and this is not a major fault. —Richard Gilkey Germany Today (Ernest Kleinberg Fdms; 3890 Edgewater Drive, Pasadena, California.) 22 minutes, 16mm sound, color, no date. $220. Teacher's guide available. Description The film Germany Today affords the viewer a cogent glimpse of West Germany's impressive post-war revival and reconstruction where allwomen, children and t>ld men as well —must do what they can to speed her resuscitation. Indeed, there are four Germanys shown with the opening sequence surveying the highly developed and industrialized Rhine-Ruhr areas which once again have become the economic and industrial dynamos of the new, reborn Germany. Here abound the great steel and iron mills which, rebuilt largely with Marshall Plan aid, are pouring out their steel for power plants, oil refineries, heavy machinery, capital and consumer goods. Here the rich coal fields of the Ruhr valley with their estimated supply of 40 billion tons and the lengthy coal trains snaking their wa> into Franc-e and Luxembourg. Here, too, the great fleets carrying finished goods down the Rhine to Antwerp and the other parts of the low countries. In short, Germany once again is highly competitive in the world markets and business is good and the markets stable. The farmers share in this prosperity, and the second sequence underscores the new interdependence of agriculture and industry. However farming is still largely a family business. Mechanization is slow and costly and the average farm is apt to be under 17 acres— more than likely five acres or less— because traditionally the land is divided and passed down from generation to generation through the male heirs. Here in the rural villages tradition still holds sway in the commodity markets and in the bargaining in the cattle markets even though the traditional garb is fast vanishing. In the Bavarian Farm Cooperatives, however, mechanization is well ensconced and they are bustling, prosperous concerns contributing their share to the burgeoning affluence of the new Germany. The third Germany, the cultural one, is portrayed in prestigious and illustrious Gottengen University, one of the oldest, most charming and crowded in all Germany. Indeed, standing room only is the order of the da\' in its classrooms, and living quarters are at a premium with .some students living in the clock tower of the 13th century Heilige Johannis Kirche. Here, most significantly, erudition and learned people are held in high esteem and the students thrive on the free exchange of ideas and impressions witliin its venerable walls. The fourth Germany expresses the spontaneous and ingenuous love of the Germans for parades, pomp and panoply. The farmers celebrate the harvest with processions; boys' bands parade in their colorful mwlieval imiforms; the ageless Pied Piper, beloved by all, lures both young and old; hunting masters ]iass by with their trained falcons still used for sport; shai-pshooters and bemedallwl veterans march— all evoking many memories and apprehensions both inside and out of Germany, that perhaps history might again witness tlie great engulfing surges which darkened Europe in 1789, 1806, 1871, 1914, 1939. However, we are assured by the narrator somewhat unctuously that "Gei-man leaders have statwl there is no cause DUCATIONAL ScREEN AND AlDIOVISLAL GuIDE — JANUARY, 1961 29