Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-01-08
THE SPIDER.
A Creature of Great Strength and Fcrocity
"A Printing Office Spider.

A Creature of Great Strength and Fcrocity
"A Printing Office Spider.
A friend of an amateur naturalist was
poking fun at him about his collection,
and said, pointing at a common jump
ing spider:
"Why do you bother with such rub
bishop
"Take a look at him through the mi
croscope; he is a beauty" said the anna
teur. ..-..
The friend looked. Eight murderous
eyes glared up at him. They were
ranged in two semicircles on the front
of a head teeming with malignant cum
ming ard ferocity. The strong jaws were
open, and two hollow, serrated tusks
protruded from them. No neck could
be seen. Body and head were one-a
model of cruel power, covered with
stripes of silky tan and black hair. Eight
long, triple-jointed, forceful legs, half
hidden by hair and feathers, armed will,
sha%rp-pointed spikes like locust thorns,
ending in formidable claws hooked at
their points and tcethed like coarse
combs, were bent in the attitude of
springing. The specimen seemed as
large as a chipmunk, and in general
form resembled one.
"Does it use those combs on it's feet
to smooth the hair and feathers on it's
legs?" asked his friend of the amateur.
Eyes. They also assist in web maxi
ing and prevent slipping when tho
spider makes a spring. The jumping
spider gets his name from his nimble
bounds. The fellow you have just seen
sprang to the top of a weed two feet
from, and a little lower than his web
when ! tickled him with a piece of wire.
l knew his next move would be to drop
to the ground. Holding a wide-mouthed
vial directly under him, 1 gave him an
other prod. He dropped. The cork,
saturated with chloroform, was hastily
put into the vial. The spider dreamed
OF fat bluebottles and juicy grasshop-
pers for a few seconds, and then forgot
about them forever. Some have but
two eyes, others thirteen. In differing
species their arrangement also varies.
The jumping spider has all itss eyes in
front. 1t does not need them else
where. Sitting in the entrance of the
woven funnel attached to the web, and
facing it, the jumper is ready for prey
or foe. 1t leaves no external trace OF
it's business. Springing upon it's vic
tim, the spider drags it from the web
into the funnel, dispatches it, feasts
upon it, and then drops the skeleton
out of the narrow end of the funnel, to
hang there with other evidence of its
power. When alarmed it retreats
through the skeleton closet to the cram
MES in the fence or the depths of the
dense shrubbery in which it has builded.
THE eyes of the wolf spider are
adapted to the uses it has for them. On
each side of it's body are two eyes, and
in the front of its head four. 1t weaves
no web, Providing along a wall, fence
OF branch, the wolf spies a fly, instantly
attaches a line to the object upon which
It'll moving, and looks wickedly at the
fly. The fly steps forward and stops.
The wolf steps forv I'd, gets nearer tc
the fly, and stops. Every time the fly
moves the spider follows and gains
upon it, until near enough for it's pur.
pose, when it pounces upon the fly an6
the .iittest survives. Should the fly turn
from the top of the fence to 90 down the
side, the wolf hastcns to the edge, drops
} upon the fly, swings with him for a sec