SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE MENTAL POWERS 

 OF SPIDERS. 



GEORGE W. AND ELIZABETH G. PECKHAM. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The differences of structure between a man and a spider are 

 so numerous and profound that he who infers the mental state 

 of a spider from a given action should not be in haste to make 

 positive statements and broad generalizations. A critical study 

 of many of the current anecdotes concerning animal intelli- 

 gence would prevent their use as data for comparative psy- 

 chology, at least until after their confirmation by competent 

 observers. Up to that time they have, as Romanes says, only 

 the value of suggestions. How far, for example, are " personal 

 preconceptions " responsible for both facts and inferences in Dr. 

 Brookes' assertion that Epiblemicin scenicwn " has been some- 

 times seen in the act of instructing its young ones how to hunt " ? 

 and also that "whenever an old one missed its leap, it would 

 run from the place and hide itself in some crevice, as if ashamed 

 of its mismanagement"?^ After having observed spider after 

 spider building a new web on the eve of a storm, how shall we ex- 

 plain the statement, that " when a storm threatens, the spider, 

 which is very economical with its valuable spinning material, spins 

 no web, for it knows that the storm will tear it in pieces, and waste 

 its pains, and it also does not mend a web which has been torn ; 

 if it is seen spinning or mending, on the other hand, fine 

 weather may be generally reckoned on"?^ This would be, no 

 doubt, the wisest way for spiders to act under the circumstances, 

 and Dr. Buchner is in very illustrious company when he — un- 

 consciously, of course — orders the actions of such simple 

 creatures in full accord with the higher reason. 



Lange has well said that the core of all the numerous cau- 



' Bingley's Animal Biography, Vol. HI., p. 455. 

 * Romanes' Animal Intelligence, p. 211. 



