SPIDERS AND THEIR WAYS. 



i7S 



voyage in the Beagle. He says : " The little aeronaut, as soon as 

 it arrived on board, was very active, running about, sometimes 

 letting itself fall, then reascending the same thread. It could run 

 with facility on the surface of the water." 



In the bright autumn weather, if we observe closely, we may 

 sometimes see some of our own small spiders ascend to the tops 

 of trees, fences, and other high objects, rise on their toes, turn 

 the spinners upward, throw out a quantity of silk, and sail away. 

 They can be seen plentifully any fine day in October or Novem- 

 ber, before the cold weather, on Boston Common. They grasp 

 the silken thread with their feet and seem to be enjoying them- 

 selves as much as the birds and butterflies. 



Many instances are recorded of music-loving spiders, perhaps 

 the most interesting being that related by Beethoven's biographer, 

 who says : " A spider weaving its skillful though delicate trap for 

 its daily dinner worked industriously in the corner of the ceiling 

 until Beethoven began to play. Beethoven, who at that time had 

 not thousands hanging on 

 his baton, was rather 

 pleased and attached to 

 this listener, which most 

 practically proved the 

 value it attached to the 

 performance by risking 

 its life in coming nearer 

 the enchanted instrument. 

 And ill was it rewarded. 

 The mother one day, per- 

 ceiving the ugly animal, 

 seized and killed it. But 

 the boy Beethoven was so 

 put out and so miserable 

 at losing his strange audi- 

 tor that he burst into tears 

 and, seizing his violin, 

 smashed it against the 

 floor, shivering it into a 

 thousand pieces." 



Many kinds build their 

 webs and cocoons in exposed places and take no pains to conceal 

 them, while others cover theirs with tiny pebbles and bits of 

 earth for protection. Some kinds of spiders abandon their Qgg 

 cocoon as soon as it is finished, while others carry it about with 

 them until the babies appear. One mother allowed herself to be 

 torn to pieces rather than leave her cocoon. 



We might compare the spiders' different modes of getting 



Epeira diadema suspended by its Thread. 



