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NA 7 URE-STUD Y RE VIEW [15:6— Nov., 1919 



"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 — ever tirelessly speeding them. 



''And you, O my soul, where you stand, 

 Surroimded, surrounded, in measureless oceans of space, 

 Ceaselessly, musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them 

 Till the bridge you will need be form'd — till the ductile anchor hold; 

 Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul." 



The aeronautic spiders often attenpt to fly in myriad numbers, 

 this is shown more by their failures than by their successful per- 

 formances. Very often the wind is too strong, or the air currents 

 are directed downward and it is then that the purpose of our spider 

 is thwarted ; his silken filament is blown to the earth and scattered 

 over clod and stone. In such numbers do they work at times 

 and with such a squandering of silk that the ground is literally 

 covered with it. Prof. Comstock describes such a scene in the 

 Spider book in which he states that "the furrowed land of a 

 ploughed field was covered with silk so completely as to resemble 

 a sea of gossamer." 



We will now turn to another interesting 

 group of spiders that have developed a 

 remarkable nest building habit, that for 

 perfection can hardly be excelled. It is 

 the group that spins the egg sac that has 

 all the grace and beauty of a finished 

 vase. Miranda aurantia does this in ex- 

 tremely good taste, the finely molded 

 nest daintily suspended in a spray of 

 American Yew is before me on my desk 

 even as I write. It is an exquisite crea- 

 tion. Formed entirely of brown siUc, the 

 pendant orb-like nest hangs among the 

 leaves anchored by strands of strong 

 silk, a thing to dehght the eye, and to 

 defy the wintry blast. 

 But this object of external beauty is in reality a theatre wherein 

 an awful drama is being played, even now. Miranda before 

 completing her charming house deposits a great nimiber of eggs 

 in the bottom of it. These as the winter progresses hatch and 



Egg-sac of Miranda 

 aurantia 



