476 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 15, 1893. 
more advantage when trailing over a ledge of rockwork, and 
its linear, glabrous leaves and its multitude of white or pinkish 
flowers will forma feature in the garden from May and June to 
September. 
A sunny position is the best for a display of its beauty. It is 
readily increased by means of seeds. Gr. repens is figured in 
Maund’s “ Botanic Garden,” vol. i., plate xxx., under the name 
of G prostrata, but only a small portion of the plant and flower 
being shown no idea of the habit is given. 
Anthemis aizoon. 
Distinct in every respect from any of the foregoing, Anthemis 
aizoon is yet worthy of a place in the collection of alpines, possessing 
as it does the merit of floriferousness, which induced Linnaeus to 
give to the genus the name Anthemis, from anthenion, a flower. It 
begins to flower in early summer, and continues to bloom for a 
considerable period. The blooms are rather Daisy-like, but with 
much broader ray florets, which are white, the disc being also 
whitish with a tinge of yellow. The leaves are lanceolate and 
deeply serrated, and they are so covered with down as to present a 
greyish appearance. A. aizoon grows variously from 2 to 5 inches 
in height, and is extremely neat and compact, even at the latter 
height, which is almost reached in my garden. 
Its requirements appear few, and of its hardiness there seems 
no doubt, as it stands our winters without protection. I grow it on 
a rockery facing south-east, where it is placed in a pocket filled 
with sandy loam. This neat and pretty little plant is a native of 
northern Greece, and may be increased by means of seeds or 
cuttings.— S. Arnott. 
INSECTS OF THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
{Continued from])age 413.') 
Those much disliked and very abundant insects, the spiders, have 
certainly few friends amongst gardeners, nor is this at all surprising. 
The mention of their name calls up recollections of shrubs and 
plants disfigured by their webs, of the frequent transfer of these 
to the dress while we are occupied in the garden during the season 
when spiders are most active, and of the occasional travels of the 
insects themselves amongst the hair or up the sleeves. Spiders 
there are again, mostly of small size, which annoy the gardener by 
their habit of entering flowers; sometimes, it would seem, this is 
to secure a little undisturbed repose ; sometimes, too, they lurk in 
the flowers that they may pounce upon insects visiting them to 
obtain honey. But, as I have more than once remarked to friends, 
we have the satisfaction of knowing that our spiders are innocuous. 
I have never, after much inquiry, been able to find a single instance 
of a British spider biting any human being, though some of our 
larger species could probably pierce the skin and inflict a painful 
wound, if a small one, by injecting poison. Some of the species 
of hotter countries are known to do so when people are careless 
about avoiding them or come upon them unawares, and the bite of 
several species is apt to be very dangerous. Then, again, with 
regard to our spiders ; there is much to be said on their behalf, as 
busy destroyers of many insects that are troublesome about gardens 
it is hardly advisable that we should try and expel them altogether 
from our flower beds could we manage it, though we may not leave 
all their snares undisturbed. And it has also been asserted that 
spiders are weather-wise, hence may render us service as natural 
barometers. It is supposed by their restlessness they may foretell 
the approach of a storm or gale, which they particularly dislike ; 
and diligence exhibited in web-repairing after a downpour of rain 
indicates an approach of better weather, if not they hide and 
remain quiet. 
The number of eggs deposited by some of our common garden 
spiders is large, and a friend who noticed this circumstance asked 
me how it is the balance is kept even from year to year, for we 
do not find any great variation in the numbers of these species 
during different seasons, certainly no marked increase. If the 
majority of those hatched lived to be adult spiders there would be 
such an increase ; evidently only a part of each brood survives. 
Some people think young spiders prey upon each other extensively. 
I rather doubt if this is the case ; occurring in companies as they 
often do, they seem to be amicable together then, though in time 
they become suspicious of each other. Many juvenile spiders die 
of the feebleness caused by the changes of skin, which are frequent 
in their early stage ; some are undoubtedly carried off by birds, and 
some are eaten by other insects, a natural sort of retaliation upon 
species that are notable insect killers throughout nearly all their 
lives. Probably the bulk of the spider race are strictly “ annuals,” 
but some species are known to be “ biennials,” passing the winter 
in crannies and corners, and it is supposed that there are instances 
of spiders living longer than that, three or even four years. Like 
other insects of prey, they can endure a fast of many days, and those 
that live through the winter eat only now and then. At that 
season, and also about the end of the autumn, the bags of spider 
eggs are very observable on walls or palings, and they may easily 
be crashed if that is thought desirable, but there are good reasons 
for leaving them alone.' 
I cannot dwell upon the numerous and curious facts connected 
with the structure of the spider’s web, but only remark, in brief, 
that the thread or silken cord of which it is formed is composed 
of a host of extremely fine threads joined together, which issue 
from the spinnerets at the tail. The ordinary working thread may 
contain from 2000 to 6000 of these. Another notable fact is that 
peculiarity of the web which in the usual way enables the insect 
to move about on it, while the prey is generally entangled. Here 
and there upon the web a spider places drops of a sort of gummy 
substance, different from the silk, and by contact with these the 
fly or other victim is held till the spider can secure it by silken 
cords ready for eating. But by instinct, while it distributes this 
gum over a great part of the web the spider leaves certain bridges 
or gangways over which it can pass freely whenever it needs to 
do so. Sometimes, most often, it is in the autumn months we 
find about gardens masses of loose filmy web which has been carried 
along by the wind, and has served to convey some of the gossamer 
spiders through the air. It is not the case, however, as used to be 
thought, that a gossamer spider can start itself on an excursion by 
throwing out lines of thread to serve as rafts. The fact is that the 
breeze, in these species, loosens the web from its moorings, and 
then, on a portion of it, the spider travels to a new locality. 
Of all the spiders of the garden, the best known are those of 
the genus Epeira, proprietors of the large geometric webs which 
are spread over shrubs or herbaceous plants, and have, at times, the 
spider occupying the centre, at other periods it lurks under a leaf 
within easy distance. Feminine individuals of the Epeiras seem to 
predominate, hump-backed, round-bodied creatures, frequently 
having the abdomen beautifully adorned with spots. Their male 
companions are less in size, slimmer, and appear to be less ravenous. 
The number of flies that a single Epeira captures in a day is con¬ 
siderable during the season when flies are abundant, and the larger 
species also succeed in ensnaring saw-flies, butterflies, various moths, 
and even bees occasionally. It is not an uncommon thing for 
caterpillars to fall into spiders’ webs, and many small ones are 
killed by them ; but we notice there are some kinds which spiders 
evidently dislike, they just taste their juices and then eject them 
from the web. A peculiarity of the Epeiras is, that once at least, 
in the course of every day, they repair, or reconstruct their nets, 
even if they do not seem to be damaged. The diadem spider 
(E. diademata) a conspicuous species, is so called, because, to a 
fanciful eye, the marks upon its body resemble a crown or diadem, 
but some have likened them to a cross, and French folks style it 
the “Croix de St. Denis.” It is a spider which has a habit of 
shaking its web, perhaps to lest the cords, and, when it has made 
a capture, frequently twirls the victim rapidly round, and at the 
same moment it throws threads about the wings or body to prevent 
escape. As the diadem spiders like their food fresh they do not 
always kill their prisoners at once. Now and then the webs of this 
and other garden spiders occur close to the ground, and these 
usually contain numerous insects that are troublesome to us, such, 
for instance, as the crane flies or Tipulse, from the subterranean 
grubs of which we sustain much loss, even in the flower garden. 
The egg-bag of the Epeiras is about half an inch long, and contains 
a compact mass of 600 or 700 eggs or more. Even yet there are 
districts in England where people believe that some of the web 
of garden spiders rolled up and swallowed will relieve ague.— 
Entomologist. 
STRAWBERRIES. 
A NOTE in the Journal of June 8th, that English Strawberries 
from early localities were then being sold in the streets of London 
at 4d. per pound was an indication of the near approach of the 
height of the Strawberry season. Now is the time, therefore, for 
a comparison of notes of the relative value of sorts in each of the 
three sections—the earliest, midseason, and late varieties. In 
doing this, special prominence should be given to varieties which, 
like Sir Joseph Paxton, are robust, hardy, and free cropping every¬ 
where, because the general cultivation of such varieties insures a 
full supply of this wholesome fruit. This may be taken as a safe 
point of departure in Stiawberry culture, and it was precisely this 
idea which induesd me to plant a collection, rather than a choice 
selection, in the experimental fruit plot of the County Council of 
Derbyshire. At present the collection consists of nine early 
sorts :—John Buskin, Noble, Alpha, Black Prince, Keen’s Seed¬ 
ling, Early Prolific, Sir Joseph Paxton, Yicomtesse Hericart de 
Thury, and King of the Earlies. 
