Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1857-09-12
Th! Spider and the Snake. :
AsroNIstliNd rEAr or HOUSE, SPIDER .

| F" noe Siehtuteo 50 TepuisFe as rus huu
spiders? Yet the London Quarterly finds
something beautiful and even loveabe in the
former, and DR.. Asa Fitch, In HArpers
Monthly, labors to show that the latter "del
cate little objects" are worthy of our esteem
and admiration He denies that their bite is
fatal to any sane insects, and exto!s theiI
agility, adroitness, sagacity and heroism as
worthy Of all praise. In support of these
views he tells the following curious story
concerning heroic spider who captured q
snake. The affair came off last summers in
the store of Chas. Cock, in the village of La.
vano, Chemung County. n. " and is attested
by the Hon. A. b. Dickinson, Of Corning
who himself witnessed the phenomena, as did
more than hundred others.
An ordinary looking spider Of o dark color
its body not larger than that Of a common
house fly, had taken up its residence, it
appears, on the under side of shelf beneath
the counter of Mr.. Cooks store. What may
we suppose was the surprise and consterna-
tion OF this little animal on discovering a
snake about a foot long selecting for its abode
the foor underneath, only two or three spans
from its nest. 1t was q common silk snake,
which, perhaps. had been brought into the
store unseen in q quantity of sawdust with
which the floor had been recently 'carpeted." !"
The spider was well aware, no doubt, that it
would inevitably fall prey to this horrid
monster the first time it should incautiously
venture within its reach. We should expect
that to avoid such frightful doom, it would
forsake its present abode, and seek more
secure retreat elsewhere. But it is not i'm
probable that brood Of its eggs or young
was secreted near the spot, which the parent
iorseaw would fall prey to this monster if
they were abandoned by their natural guardi-
/ n 70 If
other motive which could have induced the
spider so pertinaciously to remain and defend
that particular spot at the imminent risk Of
her life, when she could SO easily have fed
and established herself in some secure corner
! elsewhere.
| But how, we may well ask, was it possible
| for such weak, tender little creature to
combat such a powerful mail-clad giant ?
What power had she to do anything which
| could subject the monster to.even the slight
est Inconvenience or molcstation Her ordi-
nary resort, that of lettering and binding her
victim by throwing her threads of cobwebs
around it, it is plain, would be Of no more
avail here than the cords upon the limbs Of
the unshorn Sampson. Aware that her &C
| customed mode was useless, how did she
acquire the knowledge and sagacity requisite
for devising another, adapted so exactly TO
structure and habits Of the serpent to aid in
rendering it successful? How was she able to
perceive that it was in her power to wind a
| loop of her threads around this creatures
throat, despite all his endeavors to foil her in
| this work. loop Of sufficient strength to
hold him securely, notwithstanding his strug-
giles and writings, until by her tackle like
! power she could gradually hoist him up from
the floor, thus literally hanging him by the
| neck until he was dead? For this was the
feat which this adroit little heroine actually
periormed--a feat beside which all the fabed
exploits of Hercules in oyerpowering lions
and serpents and dragons sink into utter
| insignitcance And who can say that in the
| planning and execution of this stupendous
achievement, there was not forethought,
reasoning careful weighing Of oil the diff.
culties and dangers, and clear perception
in the mind of this little creature that she
possessed the ability to accomplish what she
undertook in short, an exercise Of faculties
of q much higher order than the mere instinct
which is commonly supposed to guide and
govern these lower animals in their move
ments?
BY what artifce the spider was able in the
first Of tine attack to accomplish what it did,
| we can only conjecture, as its work was not
discovered until the most difficult and daring
part Of its feat had been performed. When
first seen. it had placed a loop around the
neck Of the serpent, from the top OF which q
single thread was carried upward and attached
to the under side of the shelf, whereby the
head of the serpent was drawn up about two
inches from the floor The snake was moving
around and around, necessarily in circle as
large as its tether would allow wholly unable
to get its head down to the floor, or withdraw
it from the moose while the heroic little
spider, eXultingy no doubt in the success Of
its exploit, which was now sure beyond e.
peradyeDture, was ever and anon passing
down to the loop and up to the shelf adding
thereby an additional strand to the thread,
each of which new strands being tightly
drawn, elevated the head Of the snake gradu-
ally more and more.
But tue most curious and skillful parts of
its performance is yet to be told. When it
was in the act of running down the thread to
the loop the reader will perceive it Was pos
sble for the snake, by turning its head verti-
cally, TO snap at and seize the spider in his
mouth. This had no doubt been repeatedly
attempted in the earlier part Of the conflict
but instead of catching the spider, his snake
ship caught himself thereby in an additional
trap. The spider, probably by watching each
opportunity when the mouth of the snake had
thus been turned towards her, adroitly, with
her hind legs, as when throwing o thread
around fy, had thrown one thread after
another over the mouth Of the snake, so that
he was now perfectly muzzled, by series OF
threads placed over it vertically, and these
were held from being pushed asunder by
another series of threads placed horizontally
as my informant states he particularly OBJ
served. No muzzle of wire or wicker work
for the mouth of the animal could be woven
with more artistic regularity and perfection
aud the snake occasionally making desperate
attempt to open his mouth, would merely put
these threads upon a stretch.
The snake continued his gyrations his gait
becoming more slow, however, from weakness
aud fatigue, and the spider continued TO move
down and up on the coid, gradually shorten.
ing it, until at last, when drawn upward SO
far that only two or three inches OF the tail
touched the floor, the snake expired, about
six days after he was first discovered.
A more heroic feat than that which this
little spider performed is probably now here
upon records snake foot in length hung
by common house spider Truly, the race
is not to the swift, nor is the battle to the
"A %