244 



NATURE 



[July io, 1890 



SPIDERS' WEBS. 

 American Spiders and their Spinning Work : a Natural 

 History of the Orb-weaving Spiders of the United 

 States, with Special Regard to their Industry and 

 Habits. By Harvey C. McCook, D.D. Vol. I., pp. 

 1-372, and 353 Woodcut Figures. (Philadelphia: 

 Allen Lane and Scott, 1889.) 



A LTHOUGH much has been written in a more or 

 ^^ less fragmentary way by various authors, on the 

 spinning organs and geometric snares of spiders, as well 

 as on the method of entrapping their prey, the present 

 volume is the first in which all that has been before 

 touched upon is brought together in any systematic 

 manner. Two other volumes are intended to follow, 

 but the one under notice completes the subject of geo- 

 metric web-spinning. In Vol. IL it is purposed to deal 

 with the habits and industry of spiders, associated with 

 mating, maternal instincts, the life of the young, distribu- 

 tion of species, and other general habits ; while in the 

 third (and concluding) volume the whole of the geometric 

 spiders — "orb-weavers"— of the United States will be 

 treated of systematically, and illustrated by numerous 

 coloured plates. It might have been thought that Vol. III. 

 would have more naturally preceded the other two ; but 

 perhaps it is scarcely fair to criticize too closely the form 

 in which an author chooses to present his subject. Dr. 

 McCook's evident aim is to popularize the subject of 

 spiders' web-spinning, and all that relates to it. This is 

 shown not only by the way in which the subject is pre- 

 sented, but by the bestowal of English trivial names at 

 every turn ; though it may well be doubted how far 

 science is really advanced by thus cumbering its nomen- 

 clature. Among the most interesting portions of the 

 present volume are those in which some snares are de- 

 scribed, combining the geometric or Epeirid type with 

 that of the Theridiidce, and of which no examples have 

 yet been found in Great Britain. Space, however, forbids 

 our going into details of these, nor, in fact, of any part of 

 the work. The whole volume is a mass of details, evi- 

 dently the result of careful and long-continued observa- 

 tions ; and made patent not only to the mind by lucid 

 description, but to the eye by the very graphic illustra- 

 tions thickly scattered over its pages. On one point, of 

 very great interest in the making of geometric snares — 

 the formation of the portion studded with viscid globules 

 — Dr. McCook approaches very nearly to a solution of 

 the method by which these globules are placed on the 

 lines, but the method ^ itself appears to have as yet 

 escaped observation. 



Dr. McCook tells us that his first intention was " to 

 write a natural history of all American spiders," but no 

 one who has gone even a little into the spider fauna of 

 that large region will wonder that, when this intention 

 came really to be grappled with, the plan changed ; and 

 probably those interested in the study of spiders have 

 gained by the exchange. The work done in this volume 

 is divided into seven parts. Part I. treats of the general 

 classification and structure of spiders and their spinning 

 organs ; Part II. of the general characteristics, construc- 

 tion, and armature of webs ; Part III. is on characteristic 

 forms and variations of snares ; Part IV. on certain geo- 



' Cf. a paper on this subject by — Apstein, " Bau und Function der 

 Spmnendrusen der Araneida," Archivfnr Natnrgeschickte, 1889, p. 29. 



NO. 1080, VOL. 42] 



metric webs devoid of viscid globules, and on " spring 

 snares" — those singular arrangements in which the spider 

 holds the snare taut by a single line with the slack 

 gathered up in its claws, and, on an insect striking the 

 web, suddenly lets the slack go with a spring, to the 

 more certain entanglement of the prey. In Part V. we 

 have a detail of many curious facts bearing upon the skill 

 and intelligence of spiders, and also as to the mechanical 

 strength of their webs and their physical powers ; but 

 some of the most curious of these details, in regard to the 

 " engineering skill " of spiders are, no doubt rightly, set 

 aside by the author, so far, at least, as their bearing on 

 such skill is concerned. Part VI., under the head of 

 "Provision for Nurture and Defence," treats of the 

 methods of using their snares in procuring food, and on 

 the effects and uses of the poison secreted in the falces of 

 spiders ; and the volume concludes with Part VII., in 

 which the " nesting habits " of geometric spiders are gone 

 into, as also the origin, use, and development of nest- 

 making in various tribes of spiders ; and the " genesis 

 of snares," under which last head the author gives us his 

 views as to the steps by which a simple line may have 

 become the complicated snares now formed by these 

 spiders. 



The volume thus completed is well got up, and, 

 abounding in interest from beginning to end, may well 

 stir up in everyone to whom spiders are not (and it is to 

 be regretted they sometimes are) objects of abhorrence, a 

 wish for the speedy appearance of the remainder of the 

 work. Vols. II. and III., the proposed contents of which 

 have been noticed above. O. P. C. 



NATIONAL HEALTH. 

 National Health. By B. W. Richardson, M.D., F.R.S. 



Abridged from the " Health of Nations," of Sir Edwin 



Chadwick, K.C.B. (London : Longmans, Green, and 



Co., 1890.) 

 'T^HE aim of this work is sufficiently explained in the 

 -L preface, in which the editor states that his object 

 has been to condense, without comment, into a single 

 handy and cheap volume, the most practical and most 

 popular parts of Sir Edwin Chadwick's "Health of 

 Nations." 



The volume opens with a biographical sketch of the 

 author of the larger work, giving an interesting and de- 

 tailed account of his important life-work in public health 

 and sanitation ; the remainder of the work being divided 

 up into four sections, dealing respectively with health in 

 the dwelling-house, in the school, the health of the com- 

 munity, and health in the future. 



The first section, relating mainly to the dwellings of 

 the working classes, is devoted to an inquiry into the 

 serious consequences to health of unsanitary surround- 

 ings, such as overcrowding, want of ventilation, deficient 

 water-supply, and imperfect drainage, especially when, 

 as is often the case in houses of the poorer classes, the 

 walls are pervious and absorbent through faulty construc- 

 tion and the use of bad materials. The author points out 

 that as good house-drainage and complete sanitary work 

 has proceeded in old houses, low health has immediately 

 improved ; a similar improvement becoming visible at 

 the same time in the moral as well as the physical con- 



