St. Landry democrat., 1890-06-28

tacbes their extremities to the twlg where
she has been sitting, gives them all a twist
so as to make them into rope. and starts
with the rope to walk across the thread
originally cast, spinning the rope as she
goes. until she fastens its other extremity
npon the branch twelve feet away. And
thus she has established her first rope
that is the beginning of her Web
''But suppose there is no wind?''
.eThen the problem is more complicated;
but she knows how to solve it. She drops
herself by thread from the first twig to
the ground, and then runs across to the
distant tree on seven legs, holding up one
leg to carry the thread; she climbs up the
other tree and when she has reached the
spot contemplated she fastens the thread,
and pulling in the slack, claw after claw,
fetches it taut. She then eats the slack
before going on with her labors, for the
spider is a thorough economist. Having
drawn her first line between two points,
she casts another one parallel with it two
feet, say, below. Then, running around
to the middle point Of the upper bridge,
she drops a thread to the lower horizontal,
connecting the two by perpendicular
Next she drops two other perpendicu!ars,
one on either side of the original one, and
from the middle point of the first perpen-
dicular she draws radii in every direction
until there are enough Of them to run all
around upon. Now, beginning at point
on the outside of this framework, she spins
a spiral toward the center, and having
reached the center, she runs another spiral
outward to the edge of the frame, destroy
ing the former spiral, which is not made
of sticky web, not being designed to be
permanent for fly catching. Sometimes
Mistress Spider does not approve OF her
work and tears it all apart, to begin anew.
One way in which the weaver mauifests
her intelligence is by the judicious choice
she makes of places for her web.
ga spot she is apt to select is warm
wall or the sunny side of house, where
the flies like to settle. Or she will spin
her snare before bunch of bright flowers,
which insects are apt to seek for their
sweets, or she will place it in an opening
like broken window or among deusely
foliated bushes, where there is draft to
carry the victims into the trap. Sometimes
spider will spin four hundred threads OF
some length in bunch, break them all OF
together and let them fly with the wind in
all directions. One or two will eaten
across between available points and give
the desired start for the bridge. Then
she fastens the extremities of the acclden-
tai bridge with new sticky threads-the
other ones were dry-and proceeds to busl-
ness. With the sixteen combs that she
has to hold the thread separate, and fin
ger claw on each foot besides, wherewlth
to fasten the threads, she can perform her
weaving operation with exceptional dex-
terity. The second horizontal bridge be-
meath is ordinarily made by going to
point short distance below the upper
bridge on one side, fastening the thread
on convenient projecting twig, climbing
from there to the upper bridge, running
across it, then down the opposite side to
the proper place, and finally hauling IN the
| slack"
"Do all spiders spin webs?'
mo, some spiders sre called vaga
bond spiders for the reason that they az
not spin webs. The most interesting sor
of vagabond spider is the so-called trap
door spider, which makes box, often .:
big as your two fists, Of earth cementet
into large mass by tie spiders own ex
cEetion. This box has little trap door a
one end with strong elastic thread q
serve as a spring. The nest looks lik'
nothing but clod of dirt, and the doc
swings to so perfectly-even in the cas-
of those that have been kept for years a
curios-that you cannot see any trace O
an. opening. Another vagabond splde
lives in hole in the ground a foot deep
with little nest on top of the hole mad
of small sticks and grass. There is yer.
curious weaving spider called the 'gos
samer or flying spider. On warm fai
| G. I, ~ of Wi
spiders webs, and if you examine them
you will find dozens of little spiders L
the webs. These gessamer spiders Il
pleasant autumn weather attach threa
to the ground and permit the breeze to blo'
them way off into the air where they re
main suspended at anchor for days at
time, often miles and miles away from
spot where they are anchored.
''Have spiders many enemiesT
"Plenty of them. Their worst foes Al
wasps A certain family of wasps-th
sort that make mud cells under the cave
of houses-always fills its cells full 9
spiders. The wasp of this variety catche
, a Spider often much larger and heaFie
. than itself, and first stings it into insens1
sibility. The spider thus stung Is rem
dered senseless, but not dead it is pr
into a coma which lasts for long time,
that at the end of one to three day
. the spider is still asleep, as it were. thong
living. After thus rendering the spide
; helpless, the wasp lays an egg on its body
the egg matches out, and the young iarV
feeds on the body of the spider until It
!, ready to 60 out and see the world. IN
is natures way of reproducing that kln
of wasp. In South America, monkeys o.
, spiders, and here some mice do so also,
well as snakes, turtles and birds.
,, "There are very few collections OF sp
ders in this country the one at the Nation
Museum is as yet an embryo. There a
5000 varieties of spiders in the Unite
Q States. have got together in my colie'
Q ton about 1000 varieties. Most spide
. are soft. and when dry they have shrur
so as to be unacceptable. Their le
get so brittle that they break of by the
9 own weight. So the only way to do is
keep them in spirits, which is just
satisfactory plan from the scientific poi
Q of view. In that manner great numb
: can be kept in assmall compass You Sc
J, my 1000 specimens take up no more roc
d than little book. case would. And, al
# moments notice, I can find by the 1at
:, any variety am looking for, pull out t
II little frame that holds the row of bottl
n containing the representatives OF that Va
q ETY. and exhibit them in orderly arrang
IS ment. If it is desired to examine any p
= ticular specimen closely, she is spilled z
! upon a saucer and subjected to scruti
If under the magnifying glass. Weste
y Rural.
Or s-s-
: Not an Intelligent Dog.
els that an intelligent dog7 Loo
HE ono % The response was quick q