OBSERVATIONS OF SPIDERS 



at niglit and been vanquished in a fight 

 leaving their property behind. But, if, 

 as Fabre suggests, spiders have no ma- 

 ternal instinct, why does she mother these 

 little foster spiders? Apparently she 

 does not eat them — she has too much else 

 to eat. One day I saw her feeding on a 

 fairly large caterpillar. At another time 

 I have noticed the remains of flies. Do 

 you suppose she is a robber, or do you 

 suppose, as I suggested, that she has 

 fought off the legitimate owners of the 

 other bags and confiscated their prop- 

 erty? Jane: Bates. 



Under later date Miss Bates writes 

 as follows : 



I feel sure that you will be interested 

 in knowing that on my arrival home to- 

 night I discovered that sometime during 

 the day, from two to four hundred 

 young, smoke gray spiders had arrived 

 under the beam in the rose arbor. Some 

 one suggested to me that the maternal 

 spider had gathered the egg sacs in her 

 trips about the garden and was waiting 

 only to devour the young ones. This 

 cannot be so as I have watched carefully, 

 so carefully in fact that on Sunday night 

 I had the pleasure of witnessing the de- 

 parture of the second batch of spiders 

 that had been gaining strength, apparent- 

 ly on nothing, since last Wednesday. 

 This third batch is watched over by the 

 same mother spider that attended the 

 arrival of the first, the only ones that 

 were white when they first appeared, but 

 I too intend to keep special watch to sat- 

 isfy myself that the old spider is as in- 

 nocent as she appears to be. 



My garden is small, twenty-two by 

 seventy-five, but it is full of the most in- 

 teresting things imaginable, a veritable 



fairyland with delightful surprises every- 

 where. 



Regarding this ; Professor J. H. Com- 

 stock writes as follows : 



"I think that the spider described by 

 your correspondent is the domestic spid- 

 er (Theridio'ii tepidariorum) which you 

 will find figured and described in my 

 Spider Book at page 345. This spider 

 is common both in Iniildings and out of 

 doors. The female makes several egg 

 sacs. The difference in color of the dif- 

 ferent broods of spiderlings may be due 

 to an earlier emergence from its egg sac 

 of pale breed. 



Psalm of Life, 



BY HAROLD GOKDON HAWKINS, WESTFIELD, MASS. 



Great spirit of the everlasting hills; 

 Of mystic forests and widespreading plains ; 

 Of mighty rivers and the emerald lakes. 

 Of murmuring rills and surging seas; 

 Of gentle winds and tempests wild; 

 Of worms and beasts and winging birds; 

 Strength of my fathers, father of man, 

 Great God of eternal nature, grant to me 

 That I may live throughout the span of life 

 Thou hast in thy great mercy accorded unto 



me, 

 Amidst the grandeur of thy handiwork, 

 Spirit of power, of strength, of love. 

 Grant that I may live to learn 

 From the mighty mountains an abiding faith 



in thee. 

 From forests and from plains thy universality. 

 From rivers, lakes and seas the beauty of '^'" 



works. 

 From zephyrs mild thy bounteous leniency, 

 And from the raging storms the power that 



is thine. 

 To destroy the breakers of thine immutable 



laws. 

 Father of mercy grant that T mav lear^. 

 From worm, bird, beast and flower, the 



father's care 

 Thou hast for thy myriad children. 

 All of whom without that tender care 

 Would die like flowers in the winter's chill. 

 This, oh my father grant to me. 



