HAKDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



39 



TAME SPIDERS. 



T OOKING through the back volumes of Science- 

 -'-* Gossip, I see much interesting matter has 

 been written concerning Spiders and their poison- 

 ous apparatus; but perhaps what I am about to 

 write, showing that even these creatures, predaceous 

 and cannibals as they are, can be tamed to a certain 

 extent, will not be wholly uninteresting to some of 

 your readers. 



The history of the species which is the subject 

 of the following remarks is as follows : — Searching 

 for beetles one day in April, I happened to turn 

 over a large stone, in a somewhat deep recess of 

 which, guarding a dirty antique-looking web, was a 

 large spider, which I recognized as belonging to the 

 genus Tegenaria. Beneath the web, and in close 

 proximity to the animal above, some running about 

 and others coiled up, I descried numerous woodlice. 

 Spiders, I have observed, will not touch these 

 creatures, no doubt, as hinted by one of your cor- 

 respondents, on account of their crustacean bodies 

 being too hard for their mandibles to pierce. 



I easily secured my prey, and incarcerated it 

 in a box. Some few weeks afterwards, curiosity 

 prompted me to turn over the same stone : another 

 spider, almost as formidable as the last, had taken 

 possession. It was the same species as the one in 

 confinement. To test the voracity of this class of 

 animals, I introduced my new capture on the web 

 of the other. In the meantime my pet had been 

 fed with numerous spiders, and not a few choice 

 flies! 



I eagerly watched them, for at least half an hour, 

 but they seemed very shy of, and carefully avoided, 

 each other. But beliold 1 when I opened the box, 

 a short time after, my poor pet was tightly clasped 

 in the mandibles of the other, who was greedily im- 

 bibing his living juices ! Such a size was he (the 

 defunct one), that it took the conqueror nearly two 

 days to feast off his remains. I confined several 

 animals with my new acquaintance; in the first 

 place, lintroduced a chilopod;* the spider, uo doubt 

 irritated by the other breaking through its web, 

 seized it and held it in its formidable jaws for some 

 time, the other writhing and attempting to pierce 

 the body of its antagonist with its sharp claws, but 

 with no avail. After some time the centipede was 

 dead, but the spider did not attempt to devour the 

 body of so tough an adversary ! 



The species I think I have identified as T. atrica, 

 figured in SciENCE-Gossip.t and is probably, too, 

 that described by your correspondent, Mr. Bed- 

 grave. J Mr. Robertson, the writer of the article, 

 "More Gossip about Spiders," who gives a figure of 

 it, states, from long observation, " that the Tegeua- 



* Lithufjius furcipafiis. + Vol. Iv. p. 82. 



t See June number of last year. 



ria almost invariably seize their prey by the upper 

 part of the thorax;" those spiders which I have 

 witnessed, however, as often seiz3 them by the ab- 

 domen or side. 



My spider has now attained such a degree of 

 tameness that it will even accept a fly from my hand. 

 I have often tried the experiment before friends, 

 but it will never be shown off in that way. 



Once I introduced a beetle,* renowned for its 

 hard elytra and the disagreeable quality it possesses 

 of emitting a disgusting odour at pleasure, into my 

 spider's garrison. It immediately rushed at it, but 

 on perceiving the nature of the animal it had to 

 deal with, as rapidly retreated ! 



I have referred to a popular authorf on British 

 spiders, but he does not figure this species : the 

 T. domestica figured in his work, J and in Carpenter's 

 Zoology, comes near it in afiinity. I have not yet 

 had access to Mr. Blackwall's valuable work. 



Some few days before I left town I noticed 

 that my spider was collecting some of its web, with 

 the dead flies adhering, and was forming a sort of 

 cocoon on the lid of its box, where it must have 

 laid a number of eggs, for, on my return, upon 

 opening the box, I was astonisiied to see hundreds 

 of minute spiders running up and down their 

 mother's web. Then mine being a female, I con- 

 clude it was the affectionate spouse of the other. 

 But the curious part of it is that the male in this case 

 was a great deal larger than the female. Now this 

 is in direct conrtadiction to the observations of 

 learned arachnologists. It can be explained either by 

 assuming that my former prisoner had attained un- 

 usual dimensions from being overfed, or that they 

 were both females. I think the former supposition 

 the more probable. 



I was under the painful necessity of trying the 

 effects of hot water upon a few of the young, leaving 

 the bereft parent half a dozen. 



Shortly after this, the mother died, whether from 

 grief, disease, or natural decay, I dare not say 1 



I have filled her post with a large and well-known 

 garden spider {Epeira diaclema), and, strange to say, 

 it lives perfectly at ease on the other's web, and has 

 not made one of its own, nor has it attempted to 

 devour its congener's offspring. In activity it can- 

 not be compared with the latter, nor in appetite, for 

 it seldom indulges in a fly. probably it anticipates 

 hybernation. 



dotting Hill. E. Halse. 



" It was a beautiful hour of the world, the dawn 

 of a day entirely new, when, above the bitter waters, 

 on the first nascent island, in a night calm and 

 serene, was deposited the frst drop of dew." — 

 " Nature," by Madame Michelet. 



* Blnps martixaga . t Mr. Staveley. 



J " A Study of liritish Spiders." 



