ARANEA. 



season in gardens, cc. The body of this 

 species, when full grown, is not much in- 

 ferior in size to a small hazel nut : the 

 abdomen is beautifully marked by a lon- 

 g-itudinal series of round, or drop-shaped 

 milk-white spots, crossed by others of 

 similar appearance so as to represent, in 

 some degree, the pattern of a small dia- 

 dem. This spider, in the months of Sep- 

 tember and October, forms, in some con- 

 venient spot or shelter, a large, rtfund, 

 close, or thick web of yellow silk, in which 

 it deposits its eggs, guarding the round 

 web with a secondary one of a looser tex- 

 ture. The young are hatched in the en- 

 suing May, the parent insects dying to- 

 wards the close of autumn. The Aranea 

 diadema, being one of the largest of the 

 common spiders,serves to exemplify some 

 of the principal characters of the genusin 

 a clearer manner than most others. At 

 the tip of the abdomen are placed five 

 papillae or teats, through which the insect 

 draws its thread ; and as each of these 

 papillae is furnished with a vast number 

 of foramina or outlets, disposed over its 

 whole surface, it follows, that what we 

 commonly term a spider's thread, is in 

 reality formed of a collection of a great 

 many distinct ones, the animal possessing 

 the power of drawing out more or fewer 

 at pleasure ; and if it should draw from 

 ull the foramina at once, the thread might 

 consist of many hundred distinct filaments. 

 The eyes, which are situated on the upper 

 part or front of the thorax, are eight in 

 number, placed at a small distance from 

 each other, and having the appearance of 

 the stemmata in the generality of insects. 

 The fangs, or piercers, with which the 

 animal wounds its prey, are strong, curv- 

 ed, sharp-pointed, and each furnished on 

 the inside, near the tip, with a small ob- 

 long hole or slit, througli which is eva- 

 cuated a poisonous fluid into the wound 

 made by the point itself, these organs ope- 

 rating in miniature on the same princi- 

 ple with the fangs in poisonous serpents. 

 The feet are of a highly curious structure ; 

 the two claws with which each is ter- 

 minated being furnished on its under side 

 with several parallel processes,resembling 

 the teeth of a comb, and enabling the ani- 

 mal to dispose and manage with the ut- 

 most facility the disposition of the threads 

 in its web, &c. 



Aranea tarantula, or Tarantula spider, 

 of which so many idle recitals have been 

 detailed in the works of the learned, and 

 which, even to this day, continues in some 

 countries to exercise the faith and igno- 

 rance of the vulgar, is a native of the 



warmer parts of Italy, and other warm 

 European regions, and is generally found 

 in dry and sunny plains. It is the largest 

 of all the European spiders, but the ex- 

 traordinary symptoms supposed to ensue 

 from the bite of this insect, as well as 

 their supposed cure by the power of mu- 

 sic alone, are entirely fabulous, and arc 

 now sufficiently exploded among all ra- 

 tional philosophers. The gigantic Aranea 

 avicularia, or Bird-catching spider, is not 

 uncommon in many parts of the East In- 

 dies and South America, where it resides 

 among trees, frequently seizing on small 

 birds, which it destroys by wounding with 

 its fangs, and afterwards sucking their 

 blood. During the early part of the last 

 century, a project was entertained by a 

 French gentleman, Monsieur Bon, of 

 Montpelier, of instituting a manufacture 

 of spiders' silk, and the royal Academy, 

 to which the scheme was proposed, ap- 

 pointed the ingenious Reaumur to repeat 

 the experiments of Monsieur Bon, in or- 

 der to ascertain how far the proposed 

 plan might be carried ; but, after making 

 the proper trials, Mr. Reaumur found it 

 to be impracticable, on account of the 

 natural disposition of these animals, which 

 is such as will by no means admit of their 

 living peaceably together in large num- 

 bers. Mr. Reaumur also computed that 

 663,522 spiders would scarcely furnish a 

 single pound of silk. Monsieur Bon, how- 

 ever, the first projector, carried his expe- 

 riments so far as to obtain two or three 

 pair of stockings and gloves of this silk ; 

 which were of an elegant grey colour, and 

 were presented as samples, to the Royal 

 Academy. It must be observed, that in 

 this manufacture it is the silk of the egg- 

 bags alone that can be used, being far 

 stronger than that of the webs. Monsieur 

 Bon collected twelve or thirteen ounces 

 of these, and having caused them to be 

 well cleared of dust, by properly beating 

 with sticks, he washed them perfectly 

 clean in warm water. After this they 

 were laid to steep, in a large vessel, with 

 soap, saltpetre, and gum arabic. The 

 whole was left to boil over a gentle fire 

 for three hours, and were afterwards 

 again washed to get out the soap ; then 

 laid to dry for some days, after which 

 they were carded, but with much smaller 

 cards than ordinary. The silk is easily 

 spun into a fine and strong thread : the 

 difficulty being only to collect the silk- 

 bags in sufficient quantity. There re- 

 mains one more particularity in the histo- 

 ry of spiders, viz. the power of flight. It 

 is principally in the autumnal season that 



