Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-04-18
FACTS ABOUT SPIDERS
wonderful Evidences of Intelli-
genoe That They Exhibit.
elias. of Creatures to Which They Belong
All Are Poisonous--How They Spin
Their Webs-PrOper Way to
Preserve Specimens.

"Tbe SPIDER, you hHo", 10 hoo al IN
sect 1t belongs to one class in a
aroun of creatures called 'arthropods, ;
rbich includes three other classes also
+be crustaceans, such as crabs and
1obsters. the insect proper and the
n7riapods or centipedes. The spiders
.lsss known as the 'arachnidte, is di-
yided into eight orders"
.Goodness mer' exclaimed the st.
Iouis Globe Democrat writer, who was
.lready becoming trif1e confused.
eight orders" repeated DIR. George
Marx. of the chronological bureau in
tbe Department of Agriculture, who
owns the finest collection of spiders in
.bis country. 1.-The lowest order of the
class is found in the 'pentastoma,
vorm-like creature that has been dis
covered in the eye of rattlesnake, the
liver of negro and the intestines OF
dog Next in the scale of development
comes the mites and ticks, which are
not so essentially blood-sucking Great
ures as is popularity supposed; they
live on the juices of plants ordinarily,
and it is the exceptional one that ever
cets an opportunity for a taste
Of gore Then follow the false
scorpions, minute and without
tails. which live in mold and decay
inc books. Above them by step is the
order of galleodes, Notwithstanding
beasts of some size, which are found in
the South and Southwest, and are said
to destroy herds of cattle sometimes by
their bites The daddy longlegs' are
next. and then the spider, after which
come the pedipalpi,' that have fore
claws to clutch with. Here is pedi-
palpus in this bottle; you see it is hor-
rible.looking lobster-like animal, most
unpleasant to meet anywhere, and quite
six inches long. 1t is called the mule
killer or niger killer in the South,
md though commonly thought to be
very poisonous it is in reality perfectly
harmless The only weapons it has are
glands that emit a vinegary odor so
penetrating that if you hold it your hand
will smell of vinegar for half day
| afterward.
"All spiders are poisonous-that is to
say they secrete in their maudibles a
powerful venom, which is elected through
little hole in the extremity of the
/
The most dangerous of all spiders, so
faras am aware, is the so-called black
widow, which has a red dot on the I'M
der side and is very generally feared.
10 this variety belongs the celebrated
katipo,' which the New Zealanders
dread so much. 1t is very small, and
accounts are given by the natives of
many human beings and beasts being
killed by it. However, no cause of
death from spider bite has been salts
factorily proven by the exhibition of
the dead person, the spider and the
bite therefore, there is still a good
deal of room for doubt. Spiders usually
Will run away from human being; but
one family, known as the Jumping
spider, is very aggressive. You have
often seen the jumping spider Il is
hairy, and has three red spots on the
rear OF the back. One often finds it in
houses and ON warm walls; point your
niger at it and it will jump at the finger
ana bite Otta Lugger, formerly of the
department of Agriculture, has placed
on record the case of his little girl who
was bitten by an 'attus, as this spider
SCALED She Immediately went into
spasms, and was quite alarmingly i'll.
Inc most striking system of severe
SPIDER bite is a rigidity like that of
htanus or lockjaw."
How is a spider constructed?"
Inc spider is distinguished from in
sec's by very important point of
structure. The insects have head,
achest and an abdomen, but the spider
mas no head at all, scientifically speak
ing In other words, the spiders head
anu cheSt are in one piece. The animal
covered with horny shell and is
O'C inside; 1t has a heart liver, nerves,
rain lntestlnes, arteries, veins and
elght eyes. Also it possesses eight legs,
Vi TWO more than insects have. Ninety
I'VE OF every hundred spiders that you
N"u III webs are females; the males are
V"ly ABOUT one-twentieth of the size of
N.e females anyway. and the only object
VI 'helr existence seems to be the con-
,!"uatlon of their species in the distatf
l-ne lhey do nothing in the world but
rVai after coming of age, appear to eat
nO'lihg at all, and soon die While
Any are growing up they act exactly
INT female spiders. The female has at
~le ehd OF her posterior extremity an
aoorate spinning apparatus. Six ex-
inal spinning organs there are, tubular
Sndpe' INTO which open from ten to
Dur hundred spinning glands. accord
o. lhe variety of spider. Each
sl"nu' all operating together spins "A
Para" thread, ana the spinner manip-
a"s tne threads by holding them be-
reeh the teeth of her comb-like
avs The poorly-equipped spinner,
49, " glands, with only few threads at
"'' command, walks along with a thread
;a.i@ays in her grasp. to catch herself by
h., cue 'umbles, and captures her prey
jumping at it. Bnt the good spinner
-, 10 the web she has built SO artis-
ts ,"'iy' and simply lies in wait for vic
us 10 tumble into her trap"
Nc, No'S not the manner of building the
,eAnlbit remarkable instinct
81, we'll should say so. The term In
M however, means nothing; it is
r,eF vulgar name for what is ir
by inherited experience. A spider
NJ V"S now to construct web by reason
NON He Fact that the art has been grad
AVA l acquired through the observation
Apartment of thousands of gener-