NATUKAL science news. 



95 



There are several species of 

 spiders who set their traps in the 

 grass. Some are fair sized, but 

 most of them are small. One day 

 I saw a full sized steel-blue wasp 

 get entangled in the meshes of the 

 grass spider's net. The powerful 

 wasp tore great holes in the deli- 

 cate web but could not disentangle 

 himself. The fiery little owner of 

 the net immediately rushed upon 

 the huge captive and attempted to 

 bite it, but the thick natural armor 

 of the intruder saved him from the 

 fangs of the enemy. The wasp 

 struck about him viciously with his 

 sharp sting but did not wound his 

 small adversary, although the 

 deadly poisoned spear often came 

 near to him. When the spider 

 found that he could not bite the 

 wasp as he did the soft flies, he 

 decided to entangle his huge cap- 

 tive and forthwith began to throw 

 strands of silk over the struggling 

 wasp. 



Another spider, probably the 

 mate, or at least a neighbor, now 

 came upon the scene and the two 

 worked hard to hold the prisoner; 

 but at last the burnished wasp 

 reached a strong stalk of grass and 

 exerting all his strength tore him- 

 self loose from all the strands and 

 cables which held him, and flew 

 away. 



There is a little Burr Oak tree 

 just in front of our piazza. The 

 lower branches almost sweep the 

 ground and not rarely the spiders 

 build their little fly-traps among 

 the lower twigs, but I have never 

 seen a web spun above five feet 

 from the ground. Then there are 

 the spiders who live about the 

 house and offer a world of attrac- 

 tion to me. I have discovered 

 four kinds (species apparently) 

 which live in and about the 

 piazzas. The side piazza faces 

 the East: There are vines trail- 

 ing at one end, while a long hang- 

 ing flower box filled with Pelargoni- 

 ums, Nasturtiums and Cannas make 

 a pretty picture; and several flow- 

 ering Fuchsias hang their festoons 

 of blossoms from plant stands on 

 the piazza and offer protection to 

 the student or reader who desires 

 seclusion from the observation of 

 passers-by. A little forest of sweet 

 peas with varied-colored flowers 

 among bright green, fills in the 

 space on the ground below the 

 hanging box; the whole forming a 

 pleasing exterior to passers, in- 

 sects and hummingbirds. I often 

 sit on this piazza after the sun has 

 ceased to send his fiery rays into 

 my nook. 



Strangely enough though, the 



Spiders do not apparently care for 

 the flowers, or perhaps it is more 

 difficult to find them there; at any 

 rate my best point for the observa- 

 tion of these interesting eight-leg- 

 ged creatures is on the front piazza 

 which faces the north. There are 

 no flowers upon it and there is 

 only a Trumpet Creeper at one 

 end and a few little flowers just be- 

 low to relieve the monotony of city 

 landscape. 



Sometimes a day will pass and 

 not a Spider be seen, and again a 

 dozen will lend their presence and 

 perform on the tight repe, or climb 

 hand over hand, or swing down 

 from a height by a slender yet ten- 

 acious cable. Their movements 

 are exceedingly interesting, and 

 much more varied than is general- 

 ly supposed. One will often swing 

 itself down from the ceiling of the 

 veranda and sway about in the 

 wind at the end of its cable. Oc- 

 casionally one of these hangers 

 will decide to return by the route 

 he came, and he will turn about 

 very quickly and ascend rapidly. 

 Though hanging head down, one 

 of the hinder legs is thrown about 

 the rope and in a trice he is going 

 up the delicate, yet stout silken 

 cable hand over hand. 



The climbing is done entirely 

 with the feet of the front pair of 

 legs, while the gathered slack is 

 held just back of the second pair, 

 with all the spinners that I have 

 watched.* It would be interesting 

 to find if a spider could climb a 

 hanging cable if deprived of his 

 front pair of legs. With a view to 

 discovering if this could be accom- 

 plished, the fore legs were removed 

 from a good sized individual, and 

 though he was as lively as ever 

 and could get about quite as well 

 I could get no further performance 

 from him on the line. "j" But it is 

 quite probable that they could 

 climb a perpendicular line as they 

 use two or more pairs of legs 

 when traveling on the lower side 

 of a horizontal cable. 



I have not yet been able to dis- 

 cover in what manner the slack 

 was disposed of, for though it is 

 easy to see it accumulating below 

 the second pair of legs where it is 

 held in a mass by the feet, as the 

 climber ascends, it is not to be 

 found after the spider reaches a 



* This is the habit in rope climbing with sev- 

 eral caterpillars also that I have observed, as 

 will be more fully spoken of later. 



t It must not be considered that it is cruel to 

 amputate a Spider's legs. The lost legs are 

 quickly replaced by new ones, and the creature 

 does not appear to be worried by their loss or 

 in any pain, and will savagely attack and eat 

 an inseect just after its own mutilation. 



perch. Probably the spider drops 

 its furthermore useless bundle of 

 twine. 



It is a difficult matter to knock a 

 spider from its perch without its 

 securing a hold by means of its 

 silken cable. When in danger 

 from any violence, or if the wind 

 blows strong Mr. Spider instantly 

 touches the tip of the abdomen to 

 the spot where he is resting, and 

 he is secure. From this hold he 

 can spin out yards and yards of 

 strong, unyielding, yet delicate 

 silken strand, and by which he can 

 return to his original perch when- 

 ever he wishes. He is also pro- 

 vided with an arrangement for cut- 

 ting the cable whenever he desires. 

 How this is done I do not know, 

 but judge that it is accomplished 

 by an apparatus near the spinner. 

 It may be done by the legs or feet, 

 but I could not detect it. Certain 

 I am that it is not performed by 

 the mandibles. Sometimes the 

 Spider while hanging head down 

 will suddenly separate from the 

 cable and drop. 



Some spiders show reason and 

 judgment and accomplish things 

 which cause us to wonder. One 

 day on the veranda we watched a 

 small spider as it descended by 

 spinning. To try an experiment 

 my companion, who was smoking, 

 held his cigar under the spinner 

 when he immediately turned and 

 rapidly ascended. After a foot 

 had been gained the cigar was 

 held just above him when the 

 downward spinning was again 

 adopted. The experiment was re- 

 peated several times, until at last, 

 either from digust, or because he 

 was spun out, he cut his cable and 

 disappeared. 



If an observer catches the cable 

 above a spinning spider and con- 

 tinues to gather up the spun thread 

 as the spinner drops lower, it will 

 be found that after a few moments 

 of spinning, and when three to ten 

 yards or so of cable has been spun, 

 that the spider will quit spinning 

 and drop to the floor. We call 

 this spinning out, that is running 

 out of silk. I have caused a Spid- 

 er to spin over fifteen yards of silk 

 in this manner by reeling off the 

 cable on my hands; and though in- 

 visible to the human eye, yet I 

 could feel it on my fingers. 



At times Spiders spin a cable 

 from a limb of the oak and sail out 

 into space and strike the veranda; 

 sometimes striking a column, but 

 oftener landing on the railing or 

 floor. In making these interesting 

 sails through the air the little fel- 

 lows would sometimes occupy as 



