Rural School Leaflet 



i i95 



and thus overcome and capture their prey. They spin no webs, but 



the mother spider makes a very beautiful globular sac in which she places 



her eggs, and she often carries this egg sac 



with her, attaching it to herself by means of 



her spinnerets. 



The jumping spiders. — These spiders are of 

 medium size. They make no webs, but spin 

 nests in which they hide in the winter or 

 when laying eggs. They have short, stout 

 legs, and are often gray and black but some- 

 times have bright colors. They are remarkable for their powers of jump- 

 ing. They move sidewise or backward with great ease and can jump 

 a long distance. One of 

 " dressed in a suit of 

 often find on a window- 



A crab spider 



A jumping 

 spider 



point of a lead pencil 

 face you are likely to 

 jump. He regards the 

 and it is his business on 

 catch flies by jumping 

 cat jumps after a 

 Much has been said 

 ness of the spider; but 

 us, are obliged to eat in 

 ways of securing their 



The garden spider; an 

 orb weaver 



these jumping spiders, 

 pepper and salt," we 

 pane, and if you put the 

 within an inch of his 

 see a remarkably high 

 moving pencil as a fly 

 the windowpane to 

 and seizing them, as a 

 mouse. 



about the bloodthirsti- 

 spiders, like the rest of 

 order to live, and their 

 prey are no crueler than 



our methods of procuring chicken or lamb for our tables. To one who 

 has watched the spiders carefully it would seem that, after all, their 

 chief characteristic is patience. They spin their webs and then sit and 

 wait until some unwary insect is entangled, and whole days may 

 elapse before a meal is thus obtained. 



A running spider carrying her egg sac 



'A noiseless, patient spider, 



I mark'd where, on a little promontory it stood isolated; 

 Mark'd how, to explore the vacant, vast surrounding, 

 It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament out of itself 

 Ever unreeling them — tirelessly speeding them." 



WALT WHITMAN 



