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A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



Eighth Year. 

 Vol. XVI. No. 4 



NEW YORK, December 5, 1890. 



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NOTES ON THE HABITS OF SOME COMMON 

 ENGLISH SPIDERS.' 



Some years ago I sent to Nature (vol. xxiii. p. 149) an 

 account of the behavior of the common small garden-spider 

 when a sounding tuning-fork is brought near. If the fork 

 is made to touch any part of the web, or the twigs or leaves 

 by which the web is supported, the trembling of the web 

 completely deceives the spider; so that, after rapidly finding 

 which radial line is most disturbed, she runs along this one 

 and attempts to secure the tuning-fork. She fails to dis- 

 cover in the cold and polished steel any thing different from 

 her usual food ; or rather, being led by instinct to eat that 

 which buzzes, she struggles in vain to find a soft place in the 

 armor of her prey. 



On the other hand, if the tuning-fork is brought near one 

 of these little spiders while she is waiting in the centre of 

 her web, she generally drops instantly, but will climb up 

 again as quickly as possible if the vibrating fork is made to 

 touch the web. 



More recently Mr. and Mrs. Peckham, who have made an 

 elaborate study of the mental powers of spiders {Journal of 

 Morphology, vol. i. p. 383), have repeated these experiments, 

 and have confirmed them in every essential particular. 



They found that many geometrical spiders would drop 

 when a vibrating tuning-fork was brought near them, but 

 that after much teasing in this way they would sometimes 

 learn to take no notice. They conclude that this dropping 

 habit is of direct service to them in enabling them to escape 

 from birds or wasps which prey upon them. 



While staying recently with Mr. Romanes, in Ross-shire, 

 I made some observations in this connection which are pos- 

 sibly worth recording. 



The small geometrical spiders which abounded on the gorse 

 bushes near the sea behaved as described above, while, as I 

 have noticed many times before, the diadema spidere, which 

 also were abundant, were affected in a totally different man- 

 ner. If the tuning-fork is held near them, they throw up 

 their four front legs, either perpendicularly or even farther 

 back, and as soon as the fork is within reach strike at it so 

 violently that the blow may be plainly heard. A buzzing 

 insect carried near is caught by the diadema spider in this 

 way, and speedily wound up. 



There were a number also of small brown geometrical 

 spiders, which I believe were young diademas: these dropped 

 when a sounding tuning-fork was brought near them even 

 more readily than the full-grown little spiders. 



1 From Nature. 



Instead of bringing a tuning-fork near the spiders, I made 

 a sudden and high-pitched shout, taking care that my breath, 

 should not complicate the situation. The effect, when a 

 great number of spiders were resting on their webs near to- 

 gether, was sufficiently striking. The diademas threw up 

 their legs simultaneously, and struck in the air at the imagi- 

 nary insect; while the full-grown little spiders, and what I 

 believed to be the young diademas, all dropped out of their 

 webs into the branches below. 



The suggestion of Mr. and Mrs. Peckham, that this habit 

 is a protection against wasps, is made the more probable by 

 the difference in the behavior of the full grown diadema, 

 which would certainly not be afraid of a wasp, and the little 

 spiders. However, the tactics of a wasp that I watched left no 

 doubt in my mind that this explanation is correct. The wasp, 

 when I first saw it on a gorse spray, was evidently intent on 

 something. It ran up the spray until it came to the silken 

 tube in which the little spider dwells when not on the web. 

 The spider retreated farther into the tube, while the wasp 

 was struggling among the spines and the silk to dislodge her. 

 After a short time the wasp gave up the attempt, and flew 

 away for a few yards. It then very suddenly darted at an- 

 other spider, seized her before she had time to drop, and 

 carried her off to a branch close by. This was done so 

 quickly that I could not follow the details of the attack; but 

 it is certain that the wasp, which did not carry a spider a 

 moment before, had, without alighting, taken the spider off 

 her web. It would appear that the dropping habit of the 

 spider has re-acted on the wasp, and has developed in it a 

 speed of attack sufficient to counteract the spider's only means 

 of escape. 



I have not found that the little spider is less attracted by 

 low notes than by high. A variety of forks, forceps from a 

 box of chemical weights, or a carpenter's square banged on 

 the knee, all seemed to deceive her equally well ; but a vi- 

 bration of great amplitude causes her to retreat to a place of 

 safety. The spider seems to judge of the necessity for pru- 

 dence by the violence of the insect rather than by the natu- 

 ral note of its wings. She is terrified by a heated tuning- 

 fork which is not too hot to hold. 



Mr. and Mrs. Peckham have formed a low estimate of the 

 spider's intelligence as distinct from instinct. They found 

 that a spider which has the habit of carrying its cocoon was 

 quite satisfied with a lead shot slipped into the silk covering 

 of the eggs, and laboriously carried it about. The following 

 are a few of many experiments whicli I have made, which lead 

 to the same conclusion A large diadema which had just 

 caught and wound up a large fly, and had carried it up to 



