Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-12-17
SPIDERS.
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From philadelphia Pre- 81
Tie de- friction of insects by spiders
Is enormous I have counted go in
:ects, small and great, hanging en-
tar gled III one orb web In one net in
Fa;rmonns Park counted thirty eight
mosquitoes; n another, hung under a
bridge in Asba,y Park, and out of
reach, the must have been two or
three tim S that many. Green-head
flies ity the legion have been seen in the
web, that fairly enla :e the boat houses
a Atlantic City and Cape May. The
very small spiders prey upon micro
scope insects like gnats, and devour
myriads. A glance at the fields, bushes
and trees on dewy morning in Septem-
Der viii reveal an innumerable multi
tude Of webs spread over the landscape,
all occupied by spiders of various ages,
sizes and families, and all busy destroy
ing the insect pests of man.
There are several species of spiders,
divided into two classes, the sedantary
and the wandering spiders. To the
first class belong the orb-weavers, who
make a circular web; the ine-weavers,
whose web is labyrinthian; the tube
wea7ers, WHO hang their nets on walls
or rocks or branches of trees, and the
tunnel-weavers, who live in tunnels cut
into the earth and having automatic
doors ingeniously contrived In the
wanderers are included the cetegrades,
whose motions are quick and vivacious;
the laterigrades, who have queer side
ways motion, and the saltigrades, who
jump and dance and vault. The dolo-
mede spider is a swimmer, and lives on
or under water. She builds her nest on
the detached branch of tree Or bush,
which she makes into tent. The ar
giopa fasciapa, or banded spider, is a
silver yellow and black color.
Spiders are not sociable creatures.
They are generally, on the contrary, of
solitary habits, and are mostly canni-
balls, eating each other with great gusto.
They mate in the spring and autumn,
and the mating is often a trying and
dangerous one. They the order
of nature in one respect, for the males
are inf 1itely inferior in every spect to
the females, and the latter are well
aware of the fact. Their courtships are
scenes of violence, and not of love and
peace. The lady looks with sublime
contempt upon the gentleman and keeps
him at distance. He can OILY ap-
proach her by stratagem, and some
times she nips off one of his legs in her
anger and casts him adrift cripple. I
have seen poor fellows who have lost
four out of their legs, and still they
we're attracted to the opposite sex like
moths to cradle. A spider will never
eat her own young, but the males will
destroy them when they can. The
mother either goes away or dies soon
after the Matching of her eggs, which
number about 100 to each nest, and the
little ones are thrown upon the world
almost as soon as they see light. There
are several varieties who carry their
eggs in a silk pouch until they are
Matched. The tube weavers sometimes
care for their young until they are able
to get about, and had brood of about
sixty in my yard until the rains de-
stroyed them.
Spiders have numerous enemies, and
much of their clever nest-building is de-
signed for protection against these in
roads. Toads and birds destroy them
by the thousands, and little parasite
called the ichnumen-a small f1y-lays
its eggs in the cocoons of the spider.
and when the larva appears it feeds first
on the eggs and later on the young
spiders. Orb weavers and line weav-
ers desert their egg when laid, and
meet their offspring, where they live so
long, as strangers. Another bitter
enemy Of the spider is the mud daub-
ing wasp, which has a process that
might be valuable to humanity, if it
could be discovered, Of keeping sup
ply of fresh meat. When they capture
a spider that is not needed Tor present
use they sting it in such a manner that
it lives, but has 10 power to move until
such time as the captor is ready to de-
your it. It is rather a singular thing
that the wasp in its babyhood feeds on
meat, but in its maturity eats nothing
but the nectar of flowers.
LNF4NTILE CURIOSITY.