The thought of black widow spiders is enough to send chills down one’s spine. Their painful bites contain a cocktail of chemicals, primarily the highly conserved alpha-latrotoxin (α-LTX). This toxin ...

That’s right, “Itsy Bitsy Spider” is an all-time classic. Kids love it, from the story to the gesticulation. But what is the meaning and history of the rhyme and its pantomime?

A version of this article appears in print on June 4, 2024, Section D, Page 2 of the New York edition with the headline: Smooth as Silk: The Itsy Bitsy Spider That Inspired a Powerful Microphone.