The Bossier banner., 1883-05-03
SPIDERS.

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his smooth round eyes, his eight legs,
not all of the same. length. and all on
the fore part of his body his utter alb
sence OF neck, and (King Truce not
Withstand ng) his apparent lack OF
ears! Ee is not very pretty, neither,
though, like the rest of Us, he can not
help that But he is clever, and as
Agur SAYS, . taketh hold with his
hands," and makes the most of his OPP
port mites. When he comes out of the
egg and takes his first look around, he
is as like his mother as small pea to
big one That fine appetite of his soon
Graves attention, and as no nurse makes
her appearance he con rives to shift for
himself. Not wise enough yet to spin
q proper web, he shoots t q long
stra CHIT thread, lets it stream in the
wind until the far end is caught and
| eld asst by some neighboring object,
then fastens the other end, watches for
his breakfast. and presently enjoys it.
Breakfast is Iendid meal to all who
earn before they eat it. .'" q
Spiders soon become expert weavers. \
their webs are usually spun in dry
weather Coming as size from six tiny
nipples at the end OF the animal. the
mater 81 is hardened by the + into fine
threads, woven into silky strands; aud
then wrought into network by the little
creatures limbs. Ten thousand Of
those fine threads do not equal in thick
ness one of hairs, Yet the spiders
OF Bermuda nj ke rol es forty feet Ion =,
strong enough to cat h birds as large as
thrushes; and there are spiders webs
IL l., ,rsI. L -
with knife before men can pass
through them. The web of an English
houses spider will last for months and
even years, and is of the same texture
throughout But that of the Diadem,
or garden spider, is composed of
two kinds OF silk, If you look at
one thro oh microscope yoI will
see that, while the straight threads
in it are perfectly smo lth, the cir,
cular threads are covered with m mute
drops Of glue. 9These act like lined
twig, holding every trespasser until the
constable comes up to arrest him, and
as the glue dries by exposure the cir
cular threads are renewed every day.
Spiders can make bridges and ladders
as we'll as webs Have YOU never,
when pulling down the river in boat,
fet all at once that something like
fine hair had swept acress Your face2
That was a spiders bridge. When
about to construct such q bridge he
turns his nipples to the wind, darts out
a thread VIII ch is Instantly carried over
the water and twisted round some.
branch upon the other side, and behold,
a naturatsuspension bridge! Hundreds
of f1uttering gnats will pay toll to the
warden Of that bridge, and none OF them
ever "do it again. DR. Lister saws
81 one day, observing tue air full of
webs, forthwith mounted the top of the
highest steeple on the minister lat
York;, and could there discover the
spiders exceedingly high above me-
You have only to select a fine. clear dav
in autumn, when there is little or no
wind, and from the top OF tower YOU
too may see the spiders on, their airy
ladders, sailing without wings. But,
beware the edge of the tower, for you
can not sail that way! In the bitches of
Norfolk certain spider makes itself
raft of weeds-Sindbad' s tub would be
a giant to it-and, floating on its fragile
skiff, rescues drowning flies, but, Ike, a
wrecker. emptieS their cheStst There
are spiders that can walk on water,
others thai can run mot SWIM in it,
one that makes diving bell In which
it hunts over the Shiny bottom Of green
pools, and one that actually forms a dry
house underneath the waves. Some sit
in the center of their web ike a cat
watching a mouse-hole. Cne' spins
tunnel, where it lies in wait until the
shaking of its net announces, that sup
per is provided.
/ stand up for the spider One who
is wiser than men has instructed it to
seek its prey. With one of its, big claws
it inflicts death-blow, and through
kind OF pore in the claw drop of poison
passing into the victims body puts it in
stantly out of pain. wish the slaugll-
ter inflicted BY human sportsmen were
always as justifab!e and as merciful. i
The great bird-catching spiders of
Martinique do not spin webs. they hunt
at night, have eyes which shine like those
OF cats and some nocturnal moths, can
SEQ in the dark. and, catching small
birds in the night. suck their blood.
An East India spider excavates hole