THE WATER SPIDER. 



667 



by raising them, may issue at will from the tent, and re-enter. When it quits its domi- 

 cile to proceed to the chase, it has little cause to fear that its habitation should be 

 invaded, for itself alone possesses the secret of the impenetrable emarginations, and the 

 key to those by which it can introduce itself. 



When the young ones are in a state to do without maternal cares, they take their de- 

 parture and proceed to establish elsewhere their particular habitations, while the mother 

 dies in her own tent. Thus the last is at once the cradle and the tomb of the Uroctea. 



The color of the Clotho is chestnut-brown on the cephalothorax and black on the 

 abdomen, which is marked with five round, yellowish spots. It is rather less than half 

 an inch in length. 



THE curious and interesting WATER SPIDER 

 is now far better known than was formerly the 

 case, as the numerous aquaria that have been 

 established over the kingdom have tended to 

 familiarize us with this as well as with many 

 other inhabitants of the water. 



This creature leads a strange life. Though a 

 a really terrestrial being, and needing to respire 

 atmospheric air, it passes nearly the whole of 

 its life in the water, and, for the greater part 

 of its time, is submerged below the surface. 

 To a lesser degree, several other spiders lead 

 a somewhat similar life, sustaining existence 

 by means of the air which is entangled in 

 the hairs which clothe the body. Their sub- 

 merged existence is, however, only accidental, 

 while in the Water Spider it forms the con- 

 stant habits of its life. 



Like the pirate-spider, this creature is pur- 

 posely covered with hairs, which serve to en- 

 tangle a large comparative amount of atmos- 

 pheric air, but it has other means which are 

 not possessed by the species already described. 

 It has the power of diving below the surface, 

 and carrying with it a very large bubble of air 

 that is held in its place by the hind legs ; and 

 in spite of this obstacle to its progress, it can 

 pass through the water with tolerable speed. 



The strangest part in the economy of this 

 creature is, that it is actually hatched under 

 water, and lies submerged for a considerable 

 time before it ever sees the land. At some 

 little depth the mother spider spins a kind of 

 egg or dome-shaped cell, with the opening 

 downwards. Having made this chamber, she 

 ascends to the surface, and there charges her 

 whole body with air, arranging her hind-legs 

 in such a manner that the great bubble cannot 

 escape. She then dives into the water, pro- 

 ceeds to her nest, and discharges the bubble 



into it. A quantity of water is thus displaced, and the upper part of the cell is filled 

 with air. She then returns for a second supply, and so proceeds until the nest is full 

 of air. 



In this curious domicile the spider lives, and is thus able to deposit and to hatch her 

 eggs under the water without even wetting them. The reader will notice the exact analogy 

 between this sub-aquatic residence and the diving-bell, now so generally employed. As 

 to the spider itself , it is never wet ; and though it may be seen swimming rapidly about 



WATER SPIDER. Aegyroaetra aquatic*. 



