Sept. 1, 1S68.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



195 



of that period working at a quarry should have 

 brought such a plant with them is quite incredible. 

 Here is no camp, no habitations, aud nothing to 

 indicate that any garden was here even in mediaeval 

 times. The Astrantia major grows on moderate 

 elevations in Switzerland, and this looks as natural 

 a position for the plant as any Swiss locality ; and 

 from my examination of the spot, I am bound to say 

 that I think it more likely that the Astrantia owes 

 its position here to nature rather thau to man. Any 

 way, it is acknowledged to have been an inhabitant 

 of the rugged hill called the "View Edge" for 

 " ages," and here it still exists inconsiderable quan- 

 tity among the rising brambles and bushes under 

 the summit of the hill, and I trust will long remain 

 an adornment of the spot to tempt an excursion by 

 the exploring botanist. The other locality mentioued 

 by Mr. Babington is, I fear, an error ; and, in fact, 

 a duplication of the Shropshire habitat. I have 

 long been a wanderer over the Malvern country, 

 aud neither myself nor any other local botanist I am 

 acquainted with ever met with the Astrantia in any 

 spot " between Whitborne and Malvern " — rather a 

 wide sweep of country. 



Worcester. Edwin Lees, F.L.S. 



SPIDERS. 



OOME of my investigations into the anatomy of 

 ^ several species of spiders lead me to conclusions 

 which differ a little from those drawn in Mr. 

 Ponton's interesting article, in the June number of 

 Science-Gossip, on the Alimentary System of a 

 House Spider. Eirst, with regard to the spinnerets, 

 I think the web-secretion is emitted from the 

 tubules at the ends of some of the spinuerets, and 

 at the sides of others, and not from orifices in the 

 sides of those organs, as I understand him to say. I 

 think a close examination with high powers, after 

 special preparation of the object, will reveal that 

 some of the apparent hairs on those organs are not 

 really such, but slender pipes, if I may so speak. 

 The spinnerets of a spider are always difficult to 

 prepare, and several differently mounted specimens 

 may be necessary to solve doubts. My trials were 

 chiefly upon the common garden spider (Epeira), 

 out I have also tried others, and so far as I have 

 experimented I do not think the plan of structure 

 differs materially. I pinch gently the spinnerets of 

 the newly-killed spider to distend them with fluid, 

 and then, with the scissors, snip them off. Next I 

 place them in strong hot caustic potash for a minute 

 or so ; then I violently agitate them in a phial of 

 clean water to cleanse and render them transparent; 

 and finally I mount, either dry or in balsam. If dry, 

 I take care to use no pressure, but set them on the 

 slide in position as nearly [as possible as in life, to 

 be illuminated by the parabola. 

 Second, as regards the web, I am sure that when 



the glutinous fluid leaves the body it is composed of 

 a multitude of fibres. Examination with moderately 

 high powers of the spot, on a piece of glass or the 

 side of a bottle, to which a spider has fixed her 

 thread will demonstrate this to a certainty, and the 

 number of filaments will almost defy computation. 

 They, however, coalesce into one line almost directly 

 afterwards. Now, what is the object of this ? It 

 seems to me that the intention is, by exposing a 

 large surface to the air, to facilitate the rapid drying 

 and hardening of the glutinous fluid. Yet I do not 

 doubt that the spider can, and does when so dis- 

 posed, emit the fluid in such quantities as to form 

 the other description of thread, that studded with 

 viscid globules so well known to almost everybody. 

 Has the reader ever observed an Epeira capturing 

 a fly, and wrapping it up in a perfect warp of 

 filaments ? 



I am a believer in the garden spiders eating their 

 own web, having repeated the experiments so well 

 recorded in Science-Gossip, vol. i., page 36, to my 

 complete satisfaction. I know it is urged that as 

 the spider lives by suction, and the web is a solid, 

 the feat is simply impossible-; but I see no reason 

 to doubt that the saliva of the garden spider will 

 instantly dissolve the web. At all events, observa- 

 tion with an opera glass at the shortest distance off 

 possible seemed to tend to this conclusion. Truth 

 is often stranger than fiction. 



The preparation of the poison glands of a large 

 house spider is not difficult. With a lancet I cut a 

 Tegenaria (atrica, I think) behind the eyes, and gently 

 drew the slice away from the cephalothorax. I have 

 no doubt about the poisonous character of the bite of 

 spiders upon insects or upon one another. The other 

 day I enclosed three zebra spiders {Salticus scenicus) 

 and a brown ant in a small bottle together. In half 

 an hour they were all dead. No wounds were 

 visible on either, yet I know they fought desperately. 

 Again, I enclosed in a test tube a large gnat and a 

 house spider. The spider, after experiencing some 

 annoyance from the gnat, bit it and retired to the 

 end of the tube. The gnat immediately fell down, 

 and was dead in two minutes. I remember, too, 

 when a child at Gibraltar, a relation was bitten in 

 the arm by a large black spider, which was instantly 

 caught and killed. The symptoms were certainly 

 those of a venomous bite, — swelling of the limb, and 

 inflammation of the part lasting many hours. 



If any moderately large spider be confined in a 

 roomy cell with a glass top, a great deal of informa- 

 tion may be gained on many of the points I have 

 noted. S. J. M'Ixtike. 



Nature is immovable and yet mobile, that is her 

 eternal charm. Her unwearied activity, her ever 

 shifting phantasmagoria, do not weary, do not dis- 

 turb ; this harmonious motion bears in itself a pro- 

 found rercose. — Michelet. 



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