The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1883-03-29
FLY-CATCHERS.

What funny fellow a spider is. with
his smooth round eyes, his eight legs.
not all of the same len tn, and all on
the fore part of his body. his utter alb
sen e OF neck, and (King Eruce no.
withstandng) his apparent lack of
ears! l is not very pretty neither,
though, like the rest of rs, he can not
help that! But he is clever, and as
Agur saws, 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 a 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 tor
himself Not wise enough yet to spin
a proper web, he shoots o a long
stra ght thread, lets it stream in the
wind until the far end is caught and
held fast by some neiqhborng object,
then fastens the other end, watches for
his breakfast, and presently enjoys it.
Breakfast is s lendid meal to all who
earn before they eat it.
Spiders soon become expert weavers
Their webs are us ally spun in dry
weather Coming as size from six tiny
| nipples at the end of the animal, the
material is hardened by the T into fine
| threads, woven into silky strands; and
| then wrought into network by tie little
creatures s limbs Ten thousand of
those fine threads do not equa' in thick
| ness one of + hairs. Yet the spiders
| OF Bermuda m ke ropes forty eet Ion {,
strong enough TO cat h birds rs large as
thrushes; and there are s9iders' webs
in the forests of Java VIII ch must be cut
with a knife before men can pass
through them. The web Of an Engl sh
house 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 through a m crOscOpe yO Will
see that, while the straight threads
in it are per ectly smo 1th, the cir
| cular threads are covered with IN mute
| drops Of glue. These 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 well as webs. Have you never,
when pulling down the river in a boat.
! fet all at once that something like a
| fine hair had swept across y our face
! That was a SPIDERS bridge. When
| about to construct such n bridge he
| turns his nipples to the wind, darts ont
! a thread VIII ch is instantly carried over
! the water and twisted round some
| branch upon the other side, and behold,
| natural suspension bridge! Hundreds
| of fiuttering gnats will pay toll to the
warden OF that bridge, and none OF them
| ever ''do it again" DR. Lister says
''I one day, observing the air full oi
webs, forthwith mounted the top OF the
! highest steeple on the minister tat
| York;, and could there discover the
spiders exceedingly high abo me. y
| You have only to Sc ect inc. clear day
| in autumn, when there is little or no
WIND, and from the top OF tower you
too may see the spiders on their a ry
ladders, sailing without wings. But
beware the edge or the tower, for you
can not sail that way. n the bitches OF
| Norfolk a certain spider makes itself a
| raft of weeds-Sindbad' s tub would be
a giant to it-and, eating on its fragile
skiff, rescues drowning hie5. but, ke a
wrecker, empties their chests! There
are spiders that can walk on water,
! others that can run not swim in It,
one that makes a diving bell in which
| it hunts over the Shiny bottom of green
| pools, and one that actually forms dry
| house underneath the waves. Some sit
| in the center of their web like a cat
watching a mouse-hole. One spins a
| tunnel, where il lies in wait until the
| shaking of its net announces that sup
| per is provided.
l stand up for the spider One who
| is wiser than men has instructed 1t to
seek its prey. With one of its big claws
| it infiicts a death-blow. and through a
| kind OF pore n the claw drop oi poison
| assing into the victims body puts il in
| stantly out of pain. / wish the slaugh.
ter inflicted bv human sportsmen were
always as justiiabe and as merciful.
The great bird-catching spiders oil
Martinique do not spin webs. They hunt
at night, have eyes which shine like those
OF cats and some nocturnal moth can
see in the dark. and, catching small
birds in the night, suck their blood.
An East India spider exca ates no g
two feet in the ground, lines it with
tapestry of TX. and provides it with a
hinged door Of mixed mortar and ~
constructed to open outward only. il
70 understand how to open il and the
owner does not desire a call, he has
made ARRANGEMENTS TO dc end his priva-
ey. On the s'de opposite the hinge
there are hole underneath the door
into which he inserts his strong black
claws. and no oyster is more
troublesome TO force. OF an Italian spi-
der. which fashions n similar ortress, II Is
said that if this hinge be broken by out
side violence, the creature makes