522 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



five or six inches, when least expected evidently with ing last summer (1920), Mr. R. H. Young, of Braden- 



the intention of inflicting a bite. From tip to tip of its town, Florida, sent the writer a fine, living specimen of 



outstretched longest pair of legs it measured a little over one of these spiders, and an excellent photograph was at 



six inches. Most of the tarantulas are hairy species, and once secured of it, giving it natural size ; this illustrates 



hardly to be considered in any way handsome or other the present article, 

 wise attractive even by a 



naturalist. 



These big spiders, also 

 known as "crab spiders," 

 frequently catch small birds, 

 especially humming birds, 

 and feed upon them. On the 

 other hand, however, a great 

 wasp is found in the regions 

 where they occur, which haf 

 been called a "tarantula 

 killer" on account of its hab- 

 its, as it habitually hunts for 

 them, stings and paralyzes 

 them when found, and then 

 deposits the helpless victim 

 in its burrow, lays an eg^ 

 there, from which, in time, 

 emerges a larval wasp, to 

 find a tarantula feast already 

 set forth, upon which it at 

 once proceeds to dine. Oc- 

 casionally one may come 

 across a tarantulated burn- 

 er or other small bird, 

 should one be so fortunate as 

 to meet with the same at 

 about the time it had been 

 attacked and bitten by a 

 tarantula. However, such 

 occurrences must be rare. 

 Many are of the opinion that 

 no ill effects follow upon' the 

 bite of a tarantula, beyond 

 such symptoms as usually 

 supervene after the bite of 

 any animal suspected of be- 

 ing venomous. However this may be, the writer has 

 reason to believe that the bite of one of these big, hairy 

 fellows is more or less poisonous, and, in some cases, 

 highly dangerous. There is also a scorpion called a 

 tarantula, for the reason that it resembles one of the 

 latter in general appearance; otherwise its tarantular 

 characteristics are but imaginary. 



Closely related to the true tarantulas are the "trap- 

 door" spiders that build very remarkable nests, with a 

 neat, close-fitting trap-door to fliem ; but, upon the other 

 hand, all true tarantulas burrow in the ground, or con- 

 struct a regular nest resembling a small bird's nest, or 

 they may simply live under stones or under the bark of 

 trees. 



Although by no means a rare species in most of the 

 Southern States, the Silk Spider, the scientific name for 

 which is Nephila clavipes, is interesting for all that. Dur- 



In the cut we may note the 

 curious tufts of hairs at the 

 flexures of the eight long 

 legs, and the elongate abdo- 

 men with its pretty double 

 row of dots. The rest of the 

 body is white with a pair' of 

 tiny black spots, which look 

 for all the world like the cre- 

 ature's eyes. At the time of 

 its capture, Mr. Young noted 

 that it possessed a sort of 

 chameleonic power, its body 

 that is, its abdomen 

 changing from one shade of 

 brown to another, being for 

 a moment a dark umber, 

 passing to a light ochre, and 

 back to brown again. This 

 the writer was able to verify 

 after it came to hand. 



Nephila spins a beautiful 

 v. eb, as do its relatives in the 

 tropics, where numerous of 

 these species occur. 



The study of spiders is a 

 wide field, as thousands of 

 species have already been de- 

 scribed, and we have not a 

 few popular and beautifully 

 illustrated books on the sub- 

 ject. As stated above they 

 FIG 2. FOUR LARGE GARDEN SPIDERS WITH TWO differ from insects, one dif- 



OTHERS 



Garden Spiders vary not a little in form and markings, dve 

 to sex and age. They build a beautiful orb web, capturing 

 and devouring many grass-hoppers in the course of a season 



ference being that spiders 

 possess four pairs of legs 

 (coming from the thorax); 

 while true insects have but 

 three pairs. The spiders are related to the true scorpions, 

 to the mites, and to others, and they breathe by lungs 

 and tracheae. For example, so necessary is air to tnem 

 that the diving spider sees to it that it exists in its sub- 

 aquatic home. It "weaves itself a curious little bell- 

 shaped dwelling," says a popular writer, "at the bottom 

 of the water, to which it retires to devour its prey. As, 

 notwithstanding its aquatic habits, this animal, like the 

 rest of its class, is fitted only for aerial respiration, it takes 

 care to fill its miniature dome with air, which it carries 

 down with it from the surface, among the hairs with 

 which its body is thickly clothed." 



Then, other spiders, as well as some of their close al- 

 lies, are more or less dangerous to man, as the dreaded 

 tarantulas and the scorpions. Anatomically, they are 

 remarkable ; while their relatives, the mites, possess but 

 one ganglion in the body, and utterly lack a heart, a 



