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HISTORY OF INSECTS, 



are kept under by human assiduity, the 

 spiders are but small and harmless. We are 

 acquainted with few but the house-spider, 

 which weaves its web in neglected rooms ; the 

 garden-spider, that spreads its toils from tree 

 to tree, and rests in the centre; the wander- 

 ing spider, that has no abode like the rest; 

 and the field-spider, that is sometimes seen 

 mounting, web and all, into the clouds. These 

 are the chief of our native spiders ; which', 

 though reputed venomous, are entirely inoffen- 

 sive. But they form a much more terrible 

 tribe in Africa and America. In those regions, 

 where all the insect species acquire their great- 

 est growth, where the butterfly is seen to ex- 

 pand a wing as broad as our sparrow, and the 

 ant to build a habitation as tall as a man, it is 

 not to be wondered at that the spiders are seen 

 bearing a proportionable magnitude. In fact, 

 the bottom of the Martinico spider's body is as 

 large as a hen's egg, and covered all over with 

 hair. Its web is strong, and its bite danger- 

 ous. It is happy for us, however, that we 

 are placed at a distance from these formidable 

 creatures, and that we can examine their his- 

 tory without feeling their resentment. 



Every spider has two divisions in its body. 

 The fore part, containing the head and breast, 

 is separated from the hinder part or belly 

 by a very slender thread, through which, 

 however, there is a communication from one 

 part to the other. The fore part is covered 

 with a hard-shell, as well as the legs, which 

 adhere to the breast. The hinder part is 

 clothed with a supple skin, beset all over with 

 hair. They have several eyes all round the 

 head, brilliant and acute; these are sometimes 

 eight in number, sometimes but six ; two be- 

 hind, two before, and the rest on each side. 

 Like all other insects, their eyes are immov- 

 able, and they want eye-lids; but this organ 



is fortified with a transparent horny substance, 

 which at once secures and assists their vision. 

 As the animal procures its subsistence by the 

 most watchful attention, so large a number of 

 eyes was necessary to give it the earliest in- 

 formation of the capture of its prey. They 

 have two pincers on the fore part of "the head, 

 rough, with strong points, toothed like a saw, 

 and terminating in claws, like those of a cat. 

 A little below the point of the claw there is a 

 small hole, through which the animal emits a 

 poison, which, though harmless to us, is 

 sufficiently capable of instantly destroying its 

 prey. This is the most powerful weapon they 

 have against their enemies ; they can open or 

 extend these pincers as occasion may require ; 

 and when they are undisturbed, they suffer 

 them to lie one upon the other, never openino- 

 them but when there is a necessity for their ex- 

 ertion. They have all eight legs, jointed like 

 those of lobsters, and similar also in another 

 respect; for if a leg be torn away, or a joint 

 cut off, a new one will quickly grow in its 

 place, and the animal will find itself fitted for 

 combat as before. At the end of each 

 leg there are three crooked movable claws, 

 namely, a small one, placed higher up, like 

 a cock's spur, by the assistance of which it 

 adheres to the threads of its web. There are 

 two others larger, which meet together like 

 a lobster's claw, by which they can catch hold 

 of the smallest depressions, walking up or 

 down the very polished surfaces, on which 

 they can find inequalities that are imperceptible 

 to our grosser sight. But when they walk 

 upon such bodies as are perfectly smooth, as 

 looking-glass or polished marble, they squeeze 

 a little sponge, which grows near the extrem- 

 ity of their claws, and thus diffusing a glutin- 

 ous substance, adhere to the surface until they 

 make a second step. Besides the eight legs 



Among our native spiders there are several which, 

 not contented with a web like the rest of their congeners, 

 take advantage of other materials to construct cells where, 

 " hush'd in grim repose," they " expect their insect 

 prey." The most simple of those spider- cells is con- 

 structed by a longish-bodied spider, which is a little 

 larger than the common hunting spider. It rolls up a 

 leaf of the lilac or poplar, precisely in the same manner 

 as is done by the leaf-rolling caterpillars, upon whose 

 cells it sometimes seizes to save itself trouble, having 

 first expelled, or perhaps devoured, the rightful owner. 

 The spider however, is not satisfied with the tapestry of 

 the caterpillar, and always weaves a fresh set of her own, 

 much more close and substantial. 



Another spider common in woods and copses weaves 

 together a great number of leaves to form a dwelling for 

 herself, and in front of it she spreads her toils for entrap- 

 ping the unwary insects which stray thither. These, as 

 soon as caught, are dragged into her den, and stored up 

 for a time of scarcity. Here also her eggs are deposited 

 and hatched in safety. When the cold weather ap- 

 proaches, and the leaves of her edifice wither, she 

 abandons it for the more secure shelter of a hollow tree, 

 where she soon dies ; but the continuation of the species 

 depends upon eggs, deposited in the nest before winter, 



and remaining to be hatched with the warmth of the 

 ensuing summer. 



The spider's den of united leaves, however, which lias 

 just been described, is not always useless when withered 

 and deserted ; for the dormouse, or the harvest mouse, 

 we are not certain which, usually selects it as a ready- 

 made roof for its nest of dried grass. That those old 

 spiders' dens are not accidentally chosen by the mouse, 

 appears from the fact, that out of about a dozen mouse - 

 nests of this sort found during winter in a copse between 

 Lewisham and Bromley, Kent, every second or third 

 one was furnished with such a roof. 



That spiders may be able to breath under water, we 

 can well understand from their breathing like amphibious 

 reptiles by means of gills; but there is an aquatic spider 

 which is not contented, as a frog would be, with the air 

 furnished by the water, but actually carries down a sup- 

 ply of air from the atmosphere to her subaqueous nest. 

 This spider does not like stagnant water, but prefers 

 slow-running streams and ditches, where she may often 

 be seen, in the vicinity of London and elsewhere, living 

 in her diving-bell, which shines through the water like 

 a little globe of silver: her singular economy was first, 

 we believe, described by Clerck, L. M. de Lignac, and 

 De Geer. Rennie's Insect Architecture. 



