What are uses of spider web and spider silk?

Spider's use to humans is limited, but there are many creatures on Earth whose lives are not of immediate benefit to humanity. One could also ask 'what use are humans?'!! Nevertheless, Spiders can perform three functions which benefit us. Most importantly. they catch flies which might spread disease to people. The microbes carried by flies are harmless to spiders, but can lead to illness or infection in humans. Secondly, big bird-eating spiders in South America are used as food by the native Indians of the rainforest. After spearing the spider painlessly, they remove it's round abdomen and then roast the remaining body over a campfire. A third use that some spiders have been put to, is for their webs to be spun into silk. Silk spiders live in the island of Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa- they are so named because the webs they weave are of exceptional quality, being both strong and beautifully soft. Madagascan craftspeople collect these webs from the trees and telegraph poles, and spin them into silken thread to make garments. In the days when Madagascar was a British colony, there was even an attempt to establish a large-scale spider-silk industry!!