The daily critic., 1890-10-06
FOUR STORIES
TN THE BAG0NTEUB'S PARLiNGE
THEY ARB PRETTY TALL
ONE ON HIGH SCIENTIFIC AUTHORITY
Instances lllustratingths Remarkable
Intelligence Of Spiders.
TBS DRUGGIST AND THE TOo-CU1E RATS.
Ttey Open Olive Oil Bottles and Help
Themselves Lavishly The Kind
hsartedness Of Sea Gulls.

The physical powers Of the lycosii@
the popular running, ground or wolf
spideTs-are well Illustrated by an in
stance recorded In the proceedings Of
the Academy Of Natural Sciences Of
Philadelphia, says the Popular Science
Monthly" The result, as reported,
was achieved by pure strength and &C
uvity, without any Of the mechanical
advantages Of a snare. Mr.. Spring,
while walking with friend in a
swampy wood. which was pierced by a
dixie three feet wide, was attracted by
the extraordinary movements Of huge
black spider in the middle OF a ditch.
Closer examination showed that the
creature had caught a fish. She had
fastened upon itwith q deadly grip Just
on the forward side of the dorsal fiu,
and the poor fish was swimming round
and round slowly. or twisting its body
IS If in pain. The head Of It's black
enemy was sometimes almost pulled
under the wster, but the strength OF the
fish would not permit on entire submer-
sion. IL moved Its fins as II exhausted,
and often rested. Finally Il swain uu-
der a floating leaf near the shore and
made a vain effort to dlslodge the spider
by scraping against the under side Of
the leaf.
The two had now closely approached
the bank. Suddenly the long black legs
of the spider emerged from the water,
and the hinder ones reached out and
fastened upon the irregularities OF the
side of the ditch. The spider com.
u. l..
land II. The observer ran 20 the nearest
house for a wide. .mouthed bottle, leaving
his friend TO watch the struggle. During
an interval Of six or eight minutes ab.
sence the spider had drawn the fish
entirely out Of the water; then both
creatures had fallen IN again, the bank
being nearly perpendicular Then fol.
lowed a great struggle, and on Mr.
Springs return the fish was almost
hoistcd, head first, more than half its
length out upon the land. II was very
much exhausted, hardly making any
movement, and was being slowly and
steadily drawn mp by the spider, who
had evidently gained the victory.
-
/ saw the other day an example Of
genuine reasoning and bitter resentment
exhibited by spider, writes q st. Louis
Globe Democrat correspondent. In one
corner Of my yard, protected by an over
hanging oornlce and porch, there are
several splderwebs, and In particular
two, one directly above the other at
distance OF about six inches, aud each
tenanted by large spider. ! was seated
In chair In the shade on Sunday after
noon when noticed them and picked up
a bit Of a chip and tossed IL into the
upper web 10 see what the spider would
do. He ran out and examined the chip,
but quickly deciding that II was Of no
earthly value 20 spider, set about get
ting rid OF II. He was very methodical,
and went regularly round the chip. cut
ting the threads on every side until the
chip hung finally by one strand, which
be severed, and II dropped into the web
of the spider who was keeping house on
the lower story. Out came the latter.
thinking he had caught something, but
when he found the chip his rage seemed
unbounded.
II evidently wasn't the first time
bis upper story neighbOr had dumped
his refuse into the lower web, and he
determined 10 stand II no longer. He
went up the ropes ike an athelete, leay-
ing the chip where II fell, and ia an in
slant was In the upper web and engaged
In deadly battle with its occupant
They had terrible fight, and rolled
over and over each other, biting aud
hugging with the utmost ferOcity. Al
last IN their tumbles they fell through
the hole where the chip had been cut
cut and down into the lower web, which
seemed to frighten the upper spider,
who was a little larger, and after a few
more tumbles he got loose a7d escaped
up a rope 10 his own quA fyTs, minus
the hole Of one leg and be half OF
another The lower sPtler climbed
half way up Ia pursuit. then stop bed
and seemed 10 reflect lie waited a
moment. then concluded that he, too,
had enough, so he went back and cleared
cut the chip snd mended his web.
dropped two or three bits Of straw into
the upper web. bat the big spider paid
no attention. The other had given him
a lesson had, IN spider language, set
up q sign; NO Dumping, Under
Penalty Of the Law, and he was not
slow 10 take a hint
Il want you 10 look at that bottle,
said a druggist 10 q Doylestown (Pa.)
Democrat reporter the other day. The
bottle held up for inspection contained
q half pint Of olive oil-its fun ca
paeity-and had been manufactured
with an unusually narrow neck, meas
uTiBg. perhaps, four inches IN length.
What's the matter with ily, asked
the customer
There's Uothing the matter With the
bottle, but do you see where that cork
Yes, it's about halfway down the
neck %
Z Well, that's what there Is peculiar
about Il, and here another. continued
The druggist producing a second bottle,
with the cork pushed almost into the
OIL. Nov, how do you suppose those
CoIks got into that position
Somebody pushed them down, Of
course =
NO, SIR / know you win never
guess SO ! may as well ten you. Those
coTks were forced dOWR 1he necks Of
the bottles by rats That may sound
pretty sun when you consider hat
rats leg Is scarcely long enough %
reach down Co where that cork IS. bat
its q tacE. We found our olive oil :
bottles opened and the contents spilled
around the cellar and il vas 3 long
time before We caught on % how Il was
done il was a picnic for the rats.
They would 20 over 10 the GROCERY
Store across The street NH up on Cheee
Us 81 AZ.