324 



GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



Spiders in 

 Winter. 



Spiders, which do not undergo such changes as do 

 most of the common, six-footed insects, winter either 

 as eggs or in the mature form. The 

 members of the "sedentary" or web- 

 spinning group, as a rule, form nests in 

 late autumn, in each of which are deposited from fifty 

 to eighty eggs, which survive the winter and hatch in 

 the spring, as soon as the food supply of gnats, flies 

 and mosquitoes appear. The differ- 

 ent forms of spiders' nests are very 

 interesting objects of study. Some 

 are those close-spun, flat, button- 

 shaped objects, about half an inch 

 in diameter, which are so common 

 in winter on the under side of bark, 

 chunks and flat rocks. Others are 

 balloon-shapetl^and attached to 

 weeds. Within the latter the young 

 spiders often hatch in early winter, 

 make their first meal oft* their empty 



Fig. 94 Balloon-shaped r J 



Nest of Spider. egg cases, and then begin a struggle 

 (After comstock.) ff)r ex i 8t ence, . the 



stronger preying upon the weaker 

 until the south winds blow again, 

 when they emerge and scatter far 

 and wide in search of more nutri- 

 tious sustenance. 



The "wandering" spiders never F i. ^-Spider's Nest, 

 spin webs, but run actively about (After Comstock.) 

 and pounce upon their prey with a tiger-like spring. 

 Six or eight of the larger species of this group win- 

 ter in the mature form beneath logs and chunks, 



