240 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



grains for one ten and a half inches long, and fifty-one grains for one 



eleven and a half inches long. 1 The two together ..weigh less than a 



quarter of an ounce ! Thus, a web of the Medicinal spider will 



f 6 q S , sustain with perfect ease the weight of four such snakes, will 



'even support six or seven readily, and will not break until 



the weight of eight snakes, each larger than the Batavia specimen, has 



been placed upon it. So far, therefore, the account is wholly probable. 2 



The mechanical torsion caused by the struggles of the serpent would 

 of course add to the natural effect of gravity, but would probably not 

 counterbalance the excess of resistance in the web as here shown. The 

 simple statement that a snake was suspended in a spider's web appeals 

 to ideas and associations that produce at once wonder and unbelief. A 

 snake ? that is a huge object ! A spider's web ? that is a very frail 

 thing ! In point of fact, however, when the test of weights and meas- 

 ures is applied, our notions on both these points may easily be reversed ; 

 for some snakes are certainly very slight creatures, and certainly some 

 spider snares have much strength. 



The above incident does not stand alone. The late Dr. Asa Fitch, 

 well known as an American entomologist, published an account of the 

 entanglement and elevation of a snake, resulting in its death. 

 Therid- rp^ h ero j ne o f this adventure was also a New York spider, 

 ^ m resident in the village of Havana, Chemung County, N. Y. 



Snake ^he * s described as "the common house spider;" "an ordinary 

 looking spider of a dark color, its body not larger than a 

 common house fly." These are such indefinite terms that they give 

 little clue to the scientific name of the animal, and can hardly be ex- 

 cused as coming from a trained entomologist. However, several details 

 are noted in the narrative which give good circumstantial evidence that 

 some species of Theridium is meant, very probably our common Therid- 

 ium tepidariorum. 3 



This spider had woven its snare beneath the counter of a village store. 



A "common silk snake" about a foot long, which had been probably 



brought into the store in a quantity of sawdust, took up its 



The Ser- residence on the floor underneath, two or three spans distant 



? en , from the spider's snare. When first seen the spider had placed 



a loop around the serpent's neck, from the top of which a 



single thread was carried and attached to the under side of the shelf, 



whereby the head of the serpent was drawn up about two inches from 



1 Determined from alcoholic specimens in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Natural Sciences. 



2 The difference of weight between an alcoholic and living specimen is nmsiclt'red by 

 Dr. Leidy so small that it need scarcely be estimated. 



8 The account is taken from the Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1802, page 334. The 

 original record is not quoted. 



