22 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[February, 



SPIDERS. 



S. S. E ATHVON— 7>tar Friend : In reading an arti- 

 cle of thine entitled "Peculiarities of Spiders," in 

 tlie laEt number of The Farmer, my attention was 

 attracted hy the following expression : " Spiders, 

 properly speaking, are not insects, nor are they class- 

 ed withthem, but form a distinct class of their own, 

 between the insects and the crustaceans." 



Now, according to A. S. Packard, R. Leuckart, in 

 1848, proposed the idea that the Myriopods, Spiders, 

 and six-footed insects formed orders, and not classes; 

 and was afterwards supported by Agassiz and Dana. 

 Also, in his (iuide to the Study of Insects, in speak- 

 ing of the Arachnida, Packard says: "The order 

 shows its close relationship with the Dipterous in- 

 sects, especially when compared with the wingless 

 Chionea and Nycteribia, and its lowest forms (certain 

 mites) bear a close resemblance to some of the lower 

 Crustacea, as the young stages and embryonic devel- 

 opment are remarkably similar. The typical forms 

 of the order homologize too closely with the apterous 

 insects to allow them to be separated as a distinct 

 class. 



" In some genera there is a decided line of demar- 

 cation betwc'cn the head and the thorax, which is, 

 however, very distinct during embryonic life, and we 

 do not perceive that gradual transition from mouth- 

 parts to swimming legs which obtains in the Crusta- 

 cea. The order, however, lias much lower, more 

 degraded forms than the Myripods even, as the genus 

 Demodex testifies, which may recall readily certain 

 intestinal worms. This we would consider as but an 

 example of what often occurs among all degraded 

 forms, of a recurrence to the archetypal form of the 

 articulate type, and not for this reason, as some au- 

 thors have done, would we place the Arachnids of 

 Latreille in a class by themselves, below the Myiio- 

 pods ; nor on recurring to the spiders alone, with 

 their high organization and wonderful instincts, 

 would we follow Professor Owen and others in plac- 

 ing thrm even above the true insects. 



" We must look upon the spider as a hexapodous 

 insectidcgraded, wingless, and pa rtiallydecephalized. 

 A part of the elements, constituting the head in in- 

 sects, have been, as it were, withheld from the head 

 and detained in the thorax, which has thus an in- 

 crease in one pair of limbs. On the other hand, the 

 sensorial, or pre-oral regiojj of the head, is wanting 

 in two most important members, i. e., the compound 

 eyes and the antenna?. Both Zaddaeh and Claparide 

 state that there are no organs in the spiders homolo- 

 gous with the antennse of insects. The simple fact 

 that the homology of the organs generally is so close 

 between the two groups shows that they must fall 

 into the same class." 



I herewith send his classilication of the insects ; 

 also those of Asassiz and Dana. Here are certainly 

 conflicting opinions. The inquiry comes to the mind 

 of the reader, which one is right? Now, the only 

 way to come to a just conclusion is to investigate 

 their comparative anatomical characters and devel- 

 opment ; but as I cannot do that, I must seek for 

 light from some other source. I therefore would 

 like to hear from thee more fully on this subject 

 through the columns of TuE Farmer. Thine truly. 

 Waller A'. Wuij, Lyle, Lan. eo., J'a., 12 mo. 25,1875. 



The Articulates are divided into three classes, 

 namely : Worms, Crustaceans and Insects. 



The Insects into three Orders, as follows : 



Myriopoda. 



Myriopoda. 



Myriopoda. 



Asa specialist, we have been in the habit of 

 ruling the si)iders out of the Class In.secjta 

 for thirty years or nioi-e ; simply because we 

 were early so in.structed, and liad no entomo- 

 logical works that recognized them as insects. 

 We are not ignorant of tlie positions these 

 animals occupy in the classifications of Agassiz, 

 Packard and "Dana, nor of the forty or fifty 

 otlier systems of classification which have come 

 under our observation, or we have heard of 

 during the period above named ; but as the 

 questions involved in classification were not 



then settled (and are not yet settled) and our 

 time to devote to these studies was very limit- 

 ed, we long since concluded to let classifiers 

 figlit it out on their own line, whilst we would 

 endeavor to find out sometliing more about 

 these subjects of the animal kingdom than 

 their mere names, and the niches they occupy 

 in the great temple of classification. AVe deem 

 it of more practical importance to know some- 

 thing about the history and habits of animals, 

 their peculiar characters, how and upon what 

 they live, their transfonnations, and the peri- 

 ods and places of their "coming and going." 

 At the same time we fully recognize system- 

 atic aiTangement, and acknowledge ourselves 

 under obligations to those whose ingenious la- 

 borshave been devoted to the arduous and com- 

 plicated work of classification ; but in this, as 

 in all other departments of human knowledge, 

 we must be left in freedom to make our choice, 

 so far as we understand the various .systems 

 proposed, their rationality, and the principles 

 upon which they are founded. The true sys- 

 tem of classification is perhaps involved in 

 Emlri/oli gy, but even that is not yet entirely 

 satisfactory. 



Those who run down the embrj'ological 

 scale to the protoplastic beginnings of organic 

 life, will, of course, develop different systems 

 of classifying the sulijects they investigate, 

 from those wlio only study external and fully 

 developed forms. Embryology is an interest- 

 ing and useful study, but no single lifetime 

 can fathom it. Agassiz fairly wore himself 

 out at it, and had not by any means reached 

 the end. Much of it is yet involved in theories 

 and speculations, therefore we can only wait 

 patiently, and investigate and explore the 

 material most conveniently at hand. There 

 is not a single class, order, section, family, 

 genus or species among the articulates, that 

 has not niunerous exceptions to the characters 

 by which they are proposed to be distinguislicd. 

 On these questions the learned in nature's 

 realm by no means agree. Whether any 

 group or division of the animal kingdom ought 

 to be regarded as a class or an m-der is a matter 

 we are willing to leave to systematists, and if 

 the points at issue are decided in our lifetime, 

 we may then adopt them.* 



True, there is a sense in which spiders may 

 be called insects without regard to scientific 

 classification — just as lice, cockroaches and 

 mice are called vermin, or as certain species of 

 polyjis or zoophites are called coral insects. 

 The greatest difficulty, perhaps, in ruling 

 spiders out of the class of insects, is to find a 

 popular name by which to designate them. 

 The term Aeaciinida is not popular, and per- 

 haps will never become so, but if the term 

 insect is to include all the articulata in the 

 above classification, itwould perhaps be equally 

 difficult and unpopular when we extended it to 

 the myriopoda. especially the larger centipedes 

 which the common people in some localities 

 call vermin or reptiles. 



Although time may develop that spiders be- 

 long to the .same class as insects, yet for all 

 practical purposes we prefer to let them remain 

 in a class of their own, whether it is properly 

 aliove or below insects. It is very certain that 

 works on Entomology, generally, do not recog- 

 nize spiders as belonging to the same class as 

 insects; nor do specialists, generally, regard 

 them as such. Whether right or WTong, we 

 have been so long accustomed to the Quinarian 

 system of MacLeay, adopted and followed 

 by Westwood in his very elaborate system of 

 classification, that we now hesitate to make 

 any change of our views, until doctors more 

 nearly agree ; and that, probably, will not be 

 while we are on "this side of Jordan." The 

 question involved seems to be, whether spiders 

 sliould constitute a di.stinct class, or only an 

 ORDER in the class Insecta. If our prefer- 

 ence has been for the first, it is because we 

 had the sujiport of the most eminent aulliori- 

 ties on the subject — authorities that occupied 



'CnviER sayB, in bo many words, that claBses, orde. b, 

 familit 8 and genera are abBtractioue, but that it ie not so 

 with SI eoifs. (/.rtters to J/a[f.) 



Geo. Henry Lewis says: "The thin<j species does not 

 exist ; the tei m express au ahKtravtion, like virtue or white- 

 nesB. Nature createB only individuals." 



distinguished positions long before the names 

 of Agassiz, Packard and Dana were known 

 to science. Their systems are, however, not 

 entirely new, especially as to their Tkinal 

 order of classification. Kirby and Spence in- 

 troduced a system in which three annulose 

 classes are formed, namely, Crustacea, Arach- 

 nida and Insects ; and, although they differed 

 from that of all preceding and sulisequent sys- 

 tematists, they still recognize the spiders as a 

 distinct class, and insects as equally distinct. 

 Linna'us, in his great Division of Insects, 

 included all articulated animals possessing 

 articulated feet, but his chief disciple, Fabri- 

 cius, separated them into several classes. 



Neither have systematists agreed as to what 

 constitutes an order, or in the names and 

 numbers of the sub-orders and families, nor 

 yet the genera included in these. The Linnrean 

 order, Coleoptera, included also the crickets, 

 cockroaches, 'grasshoppers, locusts, earwigs, 

 camel-crickets, &c., &c., but these were sub- 

 sequently eliminated and erected into the 

 separate orders of Orthoptera and Euplexoptera. 

 Although neither Agassiz, Packard nor Dana 

 agree in the number of their sul>orders, nor 

 in the precedence that one takes of another, 

 still their systems may be the "beginning of 

 the end," in classification; in the meantime, 

 for all practical purposes, .so far as relates to 

 the habits of insects and their economic rela- 

 tions to the products of ht:maii labor, it is of 

 very little consequence whetlier we distinguish 

 them by classes or orders. If we have not 

 time or ability to investigate the various sj's- 

 tems proposed (for they are all merc\y proposed 

 and none of them yet a finality,) we will have 

 to adopt the system of some one who has made 

 classification a life-long specialty, and, in any 

 event, we will always be finding some one that 

 will differ with us. Under these circumstances 

 we must let our correspondent make liis own 

 choice, whilst we retain ours. 



For The LAncabteb Fabmeb. 

 HUMMING BIRDS. 

 {family TrochUida.) 



The faimer has many friends among the 

 feathered tribes whose efficient and gratuitous 

 seiviccs he is always ready to acknowledge. 

 The few marauders who levy slight contribu- 

 tions upon his choice fruits during a bri^i 

 period, make him ample amends during t\v 

 rest of the season. But for the Finches, Spar® 

 rows, and their numerous congeners, experi" 

 ence has taught him his daily toil would meet" 

 with but poor requital. Freni hour to hour, 

 and fiem year to jear, without stint or stay, 

 the wcnderiul multiplicatit n of noxious in- 

 sects goes on. The artificial means for their 

 destiuction, that, are available to him, are few 

 in numl er and limiti d in their application. 

 The lord of ere ation here encounters an enemy, 

 whom, alone, he is unable to overcome, anci 

 he thankfully accepts the assistance of these 

 humble allies, who, night and day, do stout 

 battle in his behalf 



To the smallest and swiftest of all the birds 

 that cleave their way through the air, the just 

 meed of praise has not been awarded; this is 

 not so much from his unwillingness to do so, 

 but simply because his attention has seldom or 

 never been directed to the good work they do 

 for him all the summer through. The farmer 

 and florist owe a debt of giatitude to the gaily 

 attired Humming birds, which they have sel- 

 dom acknowledged, and it is our present aim 

 to set before them as clearly as we can, a his- 

 tory of these beautiful creatures, and urge their 

 well earned claims to consideration. 



The Humming birds belong to the Linniean 

 genus Trochilus, family Trochilida', order 

 Incscs.sores, tribe Tenuirostrcs. Having thus 

 liriefly stated their place in the great class of 

 aves, w^e will, in the future, eschew technicali- 

 ties as much as possible, and tell what we have 

 to say about them in language which every 

 reader can understand. Their name has been 

 given to them because of the peculiar sound 

 produced by the rapid vibration of their wings 

 as tliey dart through the air, or are poised, 

 seemingly motionless, before some favorite 



