SOME CURIOUS FACTS ABOUT THE SPIDER FAMILY. 



Jack Wilson and Morris Brown were 

 spending a week in the country with 

 friends, and during a long stroll on a 

 fine autumn morning Jack exclaimed 

 with a little shudder : "There is an ugly 

 spider on your coat Morris. Wait and 

 I'll brush it off," as he raised his um- 

 brella for that purpose, but Morris 

 caught it, saying: ''Don't Jack, I want 

 to look at that spider. See what a beau- 

 tiful little creature it is !" 



"Beautiful !" exclaimed Jack in a tone 

 of mingled surprise and contempt. 

 "How can you say so, Morris Brown? 

 I do not wonder at your devotion to but- 

 terflies and moths. I admire them my- 

 self and I can excuse your fondness of 

 beetles, but your admiration for a spider 

 is beyond my comprehension. Ugh ! it 

 fairly makes the cold shudders run over 

 my back to see you handling that." 

 - "Never mind, old fellow. I used to 

 feel as you do about them until I visited 

 Uncle John two years ago and heard him 

 tell of their interesting habits and read 

 about them in some of his books on En- 

 tomology. Since then, I have taken great 

 pleasure in studying them and examin- 

 ing their curious webs and nets. Look 

 closely at this spider and see how beau- 

 tifully she is colored. Like all members 

 of the spider family, her body is divided 

 into two regions — a cephalothorax or 

 head-thorax and an abdomen, and she 

 also has eight eyes and eight legs. She 

 is one of the most beautifully dressed of 

 the spider family, her head-thorax being 

 robed in silver grey, her abdomen beau- 

 tifully marked with black and yellow 

 and brown, and her legs, dark orange 

 ringed with brow T n and black." 



After a few moments of close scrutiny 

 Jack exclaimed : "It is not so very ugly 

 after all. Are spiders insects?" he in- 

 quired abruptly. 



"They are related to them and their 

 scientific name is Aracnida/' his friend 

 made answer. "They belong to that 

 branch of animals called the Arthropoda, 

 which includes the crayfishes, the centi- 

 pedes, the insects and the spiders, the 



last being placed in a class called the 

 Aracnida, a name derived from" the 

 Greek word for spider. This specimen 

 is sometimes called the large meadow 

 spider, but the technical name is Argiope 

 rip aria. 



"Did you know that here in America 

 there are between six and eight hundred 

 species of spiders ? Here in these weeds 

 is the web of our spider." 



Kneeling on the ground before it, 

 Morris spread a black note-book behind 

 it to form a background. 



"How beautiful it really is," ex- 

 claimed his friend. "I cannot remem- 

 ber of ever seeing one like it before. It 

 is a veritable work of art." 



"Uncle told me just how the spider 

 spins its web, but I have forgotten many 

 of the details. She first lays out an 

 irregular polygon of lines which form 

 the framework of the wheel-shaped web. 

 She then fills in the radii or spokes. 

 Then she begins near the center and 

 spins a long thread, moving around the 

 net toward the framework. When she 

 reaches it she reverses her movement, 

 thus carrying her line round and round 

 toward the center. This last line is cov- 

 ered with sticky beads, which hold cap- 

 tive the numerous insects which fly 

 against it." 



"Do all spiders spin their webs in a 

 similar manner?" inquired Jack, his in- 

 terest in the spider family growing. 



"All spiders that belong to the group 

 known as geometrical spiders do. Our 

 common house and cellar spiders weave 

 irregular webs. Many do not weave 

 webs or nets at all. Some lie in ambus- 

 cade for their prey and sometimes run 

 after it a short distance. They have been 

 called vagrants. Others that are con- 

 stantly running about seizing their prey 

 by open violence are called hunters. Still 

 others capture their food in the water 

 and these are called swimmers." 



The boys resumed their walk when 

 Morris stooping down execlaimed : "oh ! 

 Jack, look at this cunning little tower !" 

 It was a tiny structure fashioned from 



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