American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-04-26
THE SPIDER SPEAKS FOR HER
SELF.

| / suppose you think we spiders are nc
bodies because we go about quietly mind
ing our own business neither haunting II
CAV colors. like Madam Butterfly, no
making noise enough to craze one, lik
Mr. Humble Bee. But l can tell you tn
l Arachnida family is more ancient than tn
| Human family, who take on so MANY airs
: prying into our secrets with that imperti
nent little miscrocOpe of theirs.
However, we're an honest and indus
: trious family, and there's nothing abou
us to be ashamed of. In fact, could show
you some wonderful things, if your eyes
| were not too coarse to see them. There
are nv spinnerets, which spin out beau
tiful silk rope of more than four thousand
threads, as fast as I want it. Wouldn' I
your children think it fine if you could
make a rope in a minute any time you
wanted it?
Then you've never seen my combs; you
can't-they1re too small. | have one on
each foot, and use them to keep mysel
free from dust, as well as my web. ] don't
like to boast, but l really think you wotIltl
admire my eyes. have eight of them-l
don't see how you can get along with two,
| though to be sure you can turn yours
| about. They are placed in IA square in
my forehead for belong to the Epeira
branch of the family. Those of us who
| live together under the ground have their
| eyes close together on the foreheads, and
those who live in the air have them more
scattered, so as to see all around
Then l would really like to show you
my babies, hut alas they're much too
small. 1 carry thefii about with me all
the time, till they're big enoiigh 10 take
care of themselves They ride on thy
back and head, and in fact there are so
many that they nearly cover me up.
Perhaps the most interesting thing
about us, is the variety of our houses. l
build my house in your garden, on bushes,
and if it wasn't for the impudence of your
gardener and destructive instrument,
called broom,you would see them ottener
than you do. 1t doesn't become HE to
brag, but if you know of any residence
more graceful or elegant than mine, I'd
like to know what it is.
Some of my family live in Il sort of tent
made of leaf lined with silk. which
makes a pretty, though rather airy house.
One branch of the family builds house,
or rather cradle, shaped like tiny bell,
and hung to leaf or twig, where it rocks
with every breeze. 1t is not larger than a
pea, snow white, and very long. But
after it is finished and filled with eggs,
forty or fifty of them, the careful mother
closes it up, and covers the outside with |
mud, because, you must know, there are |
many greedy insects who will eat every |
spider DADDY Illey Sec
Others build hanging houses Some |
are three or four inches long, slim and
made of white silk; others are made of
empty seed pods fastened together and
lined with silk, for wherever one of the
Arachnida family lives, she must have
silk curtains to her house
One of my relatives who lives in the
West Indies-a splendid fellow, with body
an inch and a half long, and bushes of
T. hIr t,r,tJ fn |
plant, and it looks like an oval silk ball
1t is very aristocratic and nice
But think the most wonderful house
is made by the Trap-door spider, another
of Australia. She is
quite large, more than an inch long, and
she digs a deep tunnel in the ground,
which of course she lines with heavy silk
langings. Then at the top she makes a
loor, so wonderful that she takes her
lame from it, 1t is made of silk, stitfened
With some sort of gum. The outside is
covered with dirt, bits of bark, etc, exact
y like the ground around it, so that when
t is shut it cannot be seen. The whole is !
lung with a hinge, like any door What !
10 you think of that? Madam CteniZa
for that's her book nance often sits in her !!
oOr to enjoy the air, but if any one comes !
ear, she slams the door and holds it fast. !,
Some of my family have Il strange fancy
Or living about the water. One of them
called the Raftspider, because he makes
raft of leaves and sticks, tied together
nth silk. On this he sails around, eating
UGH food as he can find ON the water. He T
an run on the water, too, easily.
The most singular one, who builds a L
mug house under water, and spends all II
er time there, is called the Water Spider p
ow you know that Arachnid;e-as well u
yoII-must have air to breathe, and one o
ould think they must live on land, but l.
lis spider is so determined to live away a
ON her relatives, that she builds a beau u
full house of silk, the shape and size of ii W
imble, with the openside down, and +;
,tuallv fills it with air herself. I'll tell Il
III how Having finished the house, she b
,es TO the surface, sticks one end of her u
,dy up into the air, then gives ajerk, and p
tllally carries a tiny bubble of air under d'
e water. 1t is held partly by the long ly
lirs on the body, and partly by the hind al
ys When she gets to the house she II
rms around, and lets go the bubble. OF fe
urse it goes to the top of the little thin IN
e, and there it stays. az
In this wonderful way, bubble by bub- III
e. air enough is carried in to fill the w
use. And there she lives, bringing her
nner there to eat and making nursery III
one corner for the babies, who live ut 81, s,l
me till big enough to build thimbc- II
stiles for themselves. ,i
There are many more curious and won hc
rful things | could tell you about my arr
nlv, but I'm afraid you're tired already. Gu
Christian Union. III