Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-01-30
THE IuMrING SPIDER


THE JUMPING SPIDER
Take look at him through the micro
scope; he is beauty said the amateur
The friend looked. Eight murderous ewes
glared up at him. They were ranged in
TWO semicircles on the front of the head
teeming with malignant cunning and fe-
rocity. The strong jaws were open, and
two hollow, serrated tusks protruded from
them. No neck could be seen. Body and
head were one. \ model OF cruel power,
covered with stripes Of silky tan and black
hair. Eight long, tripie-jointed, forceful
legs, half hidden by hair and feathers
armed with sharp-pointed spikes like
locust thorns. ending in formidable claws
hooked at their points, and teethed like
coarse combs. were bent in the attitude of
springing. The specimen seemed to be as
large as chipmunk, and in general form
resembled one.
Does II use those combs on its feet to
smooth the hair and feathers on its legs?"
asked his friend of the amateur.
Yes. They also assist in Matchmaking,
and prevent slipping when the spider makes
a spring. The jumping spider gets his
name from his nimbfe bounds The fellow
you have just seen sprang to the top of a
weed two feet away from and little lower
than his web when | tickled him with a
piece of wire. [ knew his next move
would be to drop to the ground. Holding
a wide-mouthed vial directly under him. |
gave him another prod. He dropped. The
cork, saturated with chloroform was hastily
put into the vial. The spider dreamed Of
fat bluebottles and juicy grasshoppers for a
lew seconds, and then forgot about them
forever. Some have but Two eyes, Others
thirteen. In differing species their arrange
ment also varies. The jumping spider has
all his eyes in front. 1t does not need
them elsewhere. Sitting in the entrance of
the woven funnel attached to the web, and
facing 1t, the jumper is ready FOR prey or
foe. II leaves no external trace of its bust
ness. Springing upon its victim, the spider
drags it from the web into the funnel, dis
patches it, feasts upon it, and then drops
the skeleton ont OF the narrow end of the
funnel, to hang there with other evidences
Of its bower When alarmed it retreats
through this skeleton closet to the crannies
in the fence or the depths OF the dense
shrubbery in which it has builded. New
York Sun.
AN ENGLISH GHOST STORY.
Lady Holly is again said to be haunting
Bisham Abbey, and is causing no little SEN
sation. She was the wife of the English
i1ihpsA1SatiOi 70 lut OOliTl Oh france IN lJDD.
The Abbey is the most historic religious
house in Berkshire and in one of the apart
ments is peculiar painting representing
the lady with a very white face and hands.
dressed in the colt, weeds and wimple then
allowed to IA baronet's lady. In this identi-
cal dress, 1t is most strongly aYerred, she
has frequently been seen in one of the bed
rooms OF the Abbey, with q self-supportinr
basin moving before her. in which she is
perpetually trying to wash her hands, but
the most remarkable part of the story is
that the sO-caled apparition always appears
in the negative, viz, the black part white
and the white part black. The story, as
now told by the dOnestics and villagers.
is that she beat her son William to death
because be could not write without making
blots; and a singular part of the tale is
that short time ago, in altering the shut
tiers of the dining-room, great number of
children's copybooks of the time of Queen
Elizabeth were discovered pushed between
the joists of the floor. some of which an
swered exactly TO the tale as if the child
could not write a single line without max
ing blot. Neither the domesucs at the
Abbey nor the adjacent villagers will hear
one word against the narrative.
owL-HUNTING.
Il viii be news to many people that can
see by daylight but it is a fact. neverthe-
less. Il believe" writes a New York
Times correspondent, that the screech-
owl, the long cared OWL and one or two
other species, are the only members of
the family that are blinded by the sunlight.
The others-among them the hoot-owl, the
snowy owl, the hawk owl, and the short
cared owl-are all sharp-sighted, both by
day and night. When you know how TO
hunt owls it viii be no trouble for you to
find them, for they are found everywhere
For instance, the short owl is great
mouse hunter in wheat stubble He is
among the first of the family of winter
owls that co-ie down from the north to
forage in this latitude. OF all owls he
gives the most sport to the hunter. There
is a piece of wheat stubble beyond this old
clearing. am almost certain to flush a
flock or two OF these birds there, for they
frequently hunt in iocks If you would
like to enjoy new sensation in hunting
walk along with me and help me beat the
stubble"
The field was but short distance away.
The owl-hunttr stationed one of US on one
side OF The stubble, and the other one on
another side, with directions to keep a
sharp eye out, as we would be surprised 10
see how a short-eared owl flushed The
hunter, with his gun ready, walked slowly
about in the stubble Presently three large
birds rose from the ground good gunshot
from him. As white and silent as ghosts,
and as swift as shadow. they glide away
few feet over the stubble The owl hunter
fired and one of the birds fell We did not
get shot at either, although near enough,
so quickly had the strange birds appeared
out of the stubble and quickly flashed out
of view. This was indeed i sensation in
hunting, and plainly an exciting one, too.