The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1857-10-31
Astonishins Feai.

SohSsniHS oe"utiiu! 6uu eNeu IOSc9oie III tns
former, and DR.. Asa Fitch, in Harper's
Monthly, labors to show that the latters'del
icate little objects" are worthy ofour esteem
and admiration! He denies that their bite
is fatal to any but insects, and extols thei,
agility, adrotness, sagacity, and heroism as
worthy Of all praise. In support Of these
views he tells the following curious story
concerning heroic spider who captured a
snake. The affair came off last summer, in
the store of Charles Cook. in the village oil
Havana, Chemung county, New York, and
Corning, who himself witnessed the phenOm-
ena, as did more than hundred other Der.
sons:
An ordinary looking spider ofa dark col
or, its body not larger than q common beu Sc
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-
ton of this little animal on discovering q
snake about a foot long selecting for its
abode the floor underneath, only two or
three spans distant from its nest 1t wes .
common silk snake, which perhaps hadt teen
brought into the store unseen in a quaetity
| of sawdust with which the floor had Been
recently "carpeted." The spider was well
aware, no doubt, that it wonld inevitably
| fall prey to this horrid monster the 16rst
time it should incau!iously venture w19hin
! its reach. We should expect that to agoid
such horrible doom it would forSaks its
I present abode and seek a more secure re.
treat elsewhere. But it is not improbable
that brood Of its eggs or young was Sc
creted near the spot which the parent fore
saw would fall prey to this monster ifthey
were abandoned by their natural guardian
and protector. We can conceive of no other
motive which would have induced the spi-
der SO pertnaciously to remain and defend
that particular spot at the imminent risk Of
her own life when she could SO easily have
fled and established herself in some secure
corner elsewhere.
But how, We may W II ask, was it posi-
be for such weak, tender little creature
to combat such powerful mail-clad giant?
What power had she to do anything which
could subject the monster to even the slight
est inconvenience or molestation! Her Or
dinary resort, that Of lettering and binding
her victim, by throwing her threads Of cob
web around 1t, IT is plain would be of no
more avail here than the chords upon the
limbs of the unsho-n Sampson.
Aware that her accustomed mode Of at
tack was useless, how did she acquire the
knowledge and sagacty requisite for deSis-
ing another, adapted SO exactly to the case
in hand, one depending upon the structure
and habit, of the serpent, to aid in render.
ing il successful. How was she able TO
perceive that II was in her power to Wind
loop Of her threads around this creatures
throat, despite of all his endeavors to foil her
in this work, loop of sufficient strength to
bold a.,s-ifh tan ispu -fu
giles and wreathings, 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 tbs was the
feat which this adrnif EttIe horei"e actually
Performed = a feat beside which all the fabled
exploits of Hercules in oyerpowering lions
and serpents and dragons sink nto utter in-
significance. And who can say that in the
planning and execution OF this stupenduous
achievement there was not forethought,
reasoning a careful weighing Of all the diff
culties and dangers, and q clear PERCEPTION
in the mind OF this little creature that she
possessed the ability to accomplish what she
undertook ; in short, an exercise OF facul-
ties of much higher order than the mere
instinc: which is commonly supposed TO
Guide and govern these lower animals in all
their movements.
By what artitice the spider was able in the
first Of lis attack to accomplish what it did
We can only conjecture, as its work was not
discovered until the most daring and dith-
cult part of its feat had been performed
When first seen it had placed a loop round
the neck of the serpent, from the top OF
which single thread was carried upward,
and attached TO the underside Of the shelf,
whereby the head of the serpent was drawn
up about two inches from the floor. The
snake was moving round and round inces-
sanity, in a circle as large as its tethcr wo'd
allow, wholly unable to get its head down
to the floor OF withdraw it from the moose;
while the heroic little spider, exulting no
doubt in the success Of its exploit, which
was now sure beyond peradventure, was
ever and anon passing down to the loop and
up to the shelf, adding thereby an addition
al strand to the thread, each of which new
strand, being tightly drawn, elevated the
head Of the snake gradually more and more.
But the most curious and skillful part 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
possible for the snake, by turning its head
vertically upward, to snap at and seize the
spider in its mouth. This had no doubt been
repeatedly attempted in the earlier part of
the conflict; but instead of catching the
spider, his snakeship thereby had only
caught himself in an additional trap. The
spider. probably by watching each oppOrtu-
nifty when the mouth of the snake had thus
been turned towards her, adroitly, with her
hind legs. as when throwing thread around
fly, had thrown one thread after another
over the mouth Of the s"ake, SO that he was
now perfectly muzzed. by series of threads
being 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 an animal could be woven
with more artistic regularity and perfection;
and the snake occasionally making desper-
ate attempt to open its mouth, would mere
ly put these threads upon a stretch.
The snake continued its gyrations, his
gait becoming more slow, however, from
weakness and fatigue, and the spider con-
tinued to move down and up on the cord,
gradually shortening it, until, at last, when
drawn upward so far that only two or three
inches Of the end of his tail touched the
floor, the snake expired, about six days af-
ter he was first discovered.
A more extraordinary feat than that which
this little spider performed is probably no
where upon record-a snake foot in lengta
hung by . common house spider! Truly,
the race is not to the swift, nor is the battle
to the strong! And this phenomenon may
serve to indicate to US that the intelligence
with which the Creator has endowed the
humblest, feeblest of his creatures is ample
for enabling him to triumph in any emer-
gency in which He places them, if they but
exercise the faculties He has given them
1t is only the slothful, cowardly, timerous
that fail, and they fail not SO much before
their enemies as before their own supiness.
PLuG UGLY.-The origin Of this term.
which IL now the rallyine crY of Q band