Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1880-05-21
Do Insects RcnlIr Possess Mlndl

them to behave precisely as reasoning
beingsP Some time since / read in tho
Scientific Record of Harpcr'S Mdga.ine
Lhe following passage;
"M. Felix Dujardin, of Rheims, veri-
Iied in The nervous system of insects q
Jentor of true brain, above the throat,
Embedded among air tubes, salivary
glands, and fat. Hardened by alcohol
Or spirits of turpentine, its form and
structure appeared beneath the micro
scope in regular convolutions, like those
of our own cerebral hemisphcres, and
the outside pulp removed left nerve
tracts winding into q white and firmer
substance, like the nucleus of the white
invertebrata.
If any one viii closely observe the be-
havior of insects, especially ants, wasps,
Or spiders, he will not be at all startled
Or surprised with the announcement that
these humble creatures have brains like
our own. .lt ..Il
Many spiders build for themselves
homes, not merely nests to rear the
young, like birds and some Of the higher
animals, but homes to which they be-
come strongly attached. .Il .
In former paper gave some ac-
count of pet spider which built q
tower above her burrow, and therefore
| named her Tdrant,tid turrtcula. just
rs | was closing the sketch, she became
the mother of a numerous family.
AS far as | have observed, the young
Of other members of this family escape
from their cocoon through the seam
which extends around the central part
it is thinner at the seam, and splits
nearly around the whole circumference,
so that the young come out in a body;
but with this species they cut a smooth
round hole in the cocoon, just large
enough for them to come out one by
one.
During the past eight weeks have
kept close watch of this curious family,
carefully noting the behavior of the
mother, who, like
The old woman that lived I'm shoe,
Had so many children she didn't know what
TO do.
The first three weeks the little things
are piled all over the head and thorax
of the mother, often completely binding
her. They seem ambitious to reach the
highest point, and iostlc and crowd one
another in their efforts to be at the top
of the heap. The mother patiently en-
dures it for time, but when they be-
come too thick over her eyes, she takes
her long fore-legs, which she uses as
teelers or hands, and reaches up and
scrapes off an armful, and holds them
straight in front of her, as if looking at
them, and perhaps giving them hom-
lily on manners. Soon she gently re-
leases them, slowly opening her arms,
aud they quietly take their places around
the edge of the tower, where they usually
remain until the mother goes below,
when they all follow. Upon her re-
appearance they are again stationed
upon her back. ....r
When they were two weeks old they
strung innumerable lines of web across
the mothers back; this l soon found
was to enable them to dispose of their
baby-dresses. Up to this time they had
been piled upon her abdomen as wull as
upon her thorax, but now these little
creatures, rs if by common consent, en-
tirely forsook the abdomen as resting
place, and devoted it exclusively to a
dressing-room. Sometimes two or three
are divestlng themselves by short line
of web to one of the lines which they
have strung across the mother, and this
holds them firmly while they undress.
The shin cracks all around the thorax,
and is held only by the front edge; next
the abdomen is freed, and now comes
the struggle to free the legs. The little
one works and kicks vigorously, and
seems to have no very easy task, but
earnest perseverance brings il out of the
old dress in about fifteen minutes, but
it comes out perfectly exhausted and al
most lifeless. l take one upon my
hand, where it lies limp and helpless for
several minutes, and then it gradually
comes back to life, and is soon as bright
and active as before.
Whence came the knowledge that i'm
PEELED these little creatures to forsake
the abdomen as resting-place, and de-
vote it to this purpose? In the soft,
helpless condition that the removal of
the skin causes, it would not do for the
stronger ones to be moving about and
mixing up with the weaker. 1t is fully n
week before they have all moulted, and
odd enough the mother looks with the
innumerable little ragged cast-off dresses
hanging all over the lines of web.
Naturalists tell us that young spiders
kill each other. But with this species
could detect no such tendency. / kill one,
and lay it upon the edge of the tower,
and many of the little ones crawl over
it, but pay no attention to it whatever
Finally the mother notices it, feels and
examines it with one of her fore legs,
and then takes it in her mandibles and
shoots it across the jar, where she is in
the habit of throwing refuse material.
Neither will the young pay any atten-
ton to fly that | kill and lay in their
path; but if the mother holds it in her
mandibles and crushes it, they crowd
around it, and seem to be slipping the
juices. And in the absence of other
food the mother crushes some of her
own babies, and holds them so that the
little cannibals can suck the juices.
The young do not leave the mother
all at the same time, but they go out in
detachments. When three weeks old
about dozen manifested a disposition
to leave the maternal home. They run
up on the highest point of plant, and
remain there until 1 set the jar where
the plants can lean against the trunk of
a tree, and now they speedily run up to
the branches. The rest are quiet, stay
ing with the mother week longer, but
now she manifests disposition to send
them adrift. She is no longer quiet and
patient, but frequently picks one up and
throws it across the jar, yet seemsto be
careful not to iniure it. She behaves
much in the same way that the higher
animals do in weaving their young.
1t is now bright sunny day in early
November, and n large proportion of
fhacn lttlaH aYaoturoc f1llv fiftN~ gon,,,
to be in great haste to leave. Like the
first, they also run up the body of a
tree, and see no more Of them. But
in the spring l shall probably find many
little burrows in the neighborhood of
the tree, where they have settled down
as staid housekeepers. Mary Treat, in
Ha'per'S for May.
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