The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1880-08-06
F,r and Spiaer-The Tables Turned.


An old subscriber in Australia sends
tetlle Gentlemea's MlglziBe the follow
ing Australia is the land of centrariety
in regard to animal and vegetable life
such as black swans, the duck-mOle, fish
which climbs trees, cherries with the
stone outside, and veritable wooden
pears but one fact rega ding spiders
and flies is equally strange, for here
there is fly which catches spiders. lie
is wiry, energetic, hard-loOking cHs-
toner body lOngish and narrow color,
literally half-mourning and about three
quarters of an inch long he builds
clay nest for his Larvae, generally inside
locks, under veranda caves, or even in
cracks of woodwork, and sometimes in
the folds of curtains or clothes. In one
case, while staying at a friends house
about twenty miles from Sidney, | left
my waterproof coat hanging untouched
for about four days, and on taking it
down there was nest nearly built in one
of the folds, of about the size OF one
little finger and three or four inches in
length. On replacing the coat and leav-
ing it for another few days. and then
examining it, the nest was finished t
had three compartments, with one little
/ white grub in each and for its food sew
/ eral small green spiders. not then absO-
/ lutely dead, but appearantly in a state
i of coma. These spiders were evidently
/ taken ont of the orange orchard, as
/ there were plenty Of The same kind alive
/ about the trees; but last week, while up
! in the mountains. / watched one of the
! flies carrying off a black hOuse-spider
quite as big as itself and during the
course of the day saw him three separate
/ times, and on each occasion with large
/ spider. | could not find the nest but
/ the farmer tells me that he has occasion
! ally done so, and found as many as
! twenty goOd-siZed spiders Of various
kinds. all apparently dead, but not de-
/ cayed. and generally five or six larvae of
the fly.
There is also a large spider which act
/ ually catches small birds occasionally
and kills and devOurs them lie is like
a wasp in color body, shape and size OF
small hazel nut; legs, long and wiry
I and he also looks like hard-skinned
! customer The web is always double
one about half as large again as the 9TH
er. and made OF such a strong yellOwisl
fiber that, if accidentally walking into
it, you feel a sensible Stoppage OF yOul
way for tie moment. One biTd-thC
wreck of which l myself saw left in the
. web-WaS rather smaller than the Eng.
iiSh wren, and the web was strong
enough to stand all its struggles, al
though little broken here and there.
As regards size of some spiders, We
have flat-bodied, gray-cOloTed one here
which builds no web, but lives under
bark of dead trees, behind boards, etc.
the body of which is about the size Of {
shilling and not much thicker, bu5 the
legs of which are quite as long as the
fingers of an Ordinary-siZed hand, anC
the whole spread of The brute is about {
hands BREADTH This is for the fullest
sized ones but the common run of then
are five or six inches across. and tn,
style IL which they pOunce upon anC
double up the smaller cockToaches i
what our Yankee cousins would call &
caution -