Fig. 4. Supercontracted properties of Araneus MA silk. Note that the individual samples were not tested to failure, but to the highest strain possible with each experimental setup. (A) The complete data set; (B) the average behaviour of the data set. Predicted values were averaged from all the curves for which a value was available. Filled circles represent values averaged from all 12 tests and open circles represent values averaged from all tests for which a value at that extension was available. The numbers above each data point are the number of curves included in the average. The calculated average behaviour is fitted to the fourth order polynomial, 450.05x⁴–310.64x³+109.49x²–4.29x+0.22, r²=1. Error bars are one standard deviation. Each sample was from a different spider.