Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-04-18

spiuers make three Lira
neo' me iirst and most PERFECT sort -,
suo Eeometrical web; the second -
oisos Oh lot of loose intera,a'.a.
.nsshes OF all shapes and aiyas. 4, "
Sir, a'hu Is best described by its mama
eneee or blanket and has a I;tt1s
.uoe-shaped attachment into n.h Isle
~ r., may retire and live in secnri.
~ y, ne most important thing in which
u nt Gunner shows her intelligence is in
ff,kNseing The first line that is to start haa
meo from one point to another hioh ~
- suppose that she Is seated ~,
daat is ii'een feet from the ground and
uoeires 10 get a thread across from ~
'."ig 10 the branch of anotber t,,,;a'
.melve feet away, how is she uoino 70 a.
fief ~ tell you. She knows hon, ~ w.
/ s mlha Is blowing and takes notice Of it's
- ss when the breeze just suits her
purpose as to direction and streneth
siie raises her abdomen as high as nossi'
oie ana emits a single thread. which is
O"heh by the current Of air and eoated
u ~, uhtll It catches where it is des;rod
men she pulls in the slack. so as -
nuke The thread taut, and. sninnir. he.
$50 ooo OF 4oo threads together. she
a,tacnes their extremities to the twio
"nere she mas been sitting, gives them
al C"ist SO as to make themuinto a
rope ana starts with Inc rome to VOL,
across Inc thread originally cast shin
nihg tne rope as she goes. until Che
,aseehs It's other extremity upon tho
prahch twelve feet away. And TINS sbo
mas established her first rome that 10 a.,
beginning of her web"
but suppose there is no windp"
men the problem is more comnlicat-
ea' out she knows how to solve IT, She
drops herself by thread from the frst
twlg TO the ground. and then runs across
W ene Instant tree on seven legs. hold
ing up one leg to carry the thread: she
Climbs up the other tree, and when she
has reached the spot CONTEMPLATED sho
'astens the thread, and. pulling in the
sack claw over claw, fetches it taut
one then eats the slack before going on
WIN hef labors, for the spider is a thor
ough economist. Having drawn her first
line between two points, she casts an
! othef one parallel with it two feet, saw
below. Then. running around to the
middle point Of the upper bridge. she
drops thread to the lower horizontal
connecting the two by perpendicular
NeXtshe drops two other perpendiculars.
one on either side of the original one
and from the middle point of the first
I perpendicular she draws radii in every
direction until there are enough of them
to run all around upon. Now, begin
ming at point on the outside of this
framework, she spins spiral toward
the center, and having reached the
center, she runs another spiral outward
to the edge of the frame, destroying the
former spiral, which is not made of
sticky web not being designed to
be permanent for fly catching.
sometimes Mistress Spider does not ap-
prove of her work and tears it all apart.
to begin anew. One way in which the
weaver manifests her intelligence is by
the judicious choice she makes of places
for her web
I A spot she is apt to select is a warm
wall or the sunny side of a house, where
the flies like to settle. Or she will spin
her snare before bunch of bright flow
ers. which insects are apt to seek for
/ their sweets or she will place it in an
opening like broken window or among
densely foliated bushes, where there is
a draft to carry the victims into the
trap. Sometimes spider will spin
four hundred threads of some length
in bunch. break them all off together
and let them fly with the wind in all
directions. One or two of the lot will
catch across between available points
and give the desired start for the bridge.
Then she fastens the extremities of the
accidental bridge with new sticky
threads-the other ones were dry-and
proceeds to business. With the sixteen
combs that she has to hold the threads
separate, and a finger claw on each foot
besides. wherewith to fasten the threads,
she can perform her weaving operation
with exceptional deXterity. The Sec
ond horizontal bridge beneath is ordi-
narily made by going to point short
distance below the upper bridge on one
side, fastening the thread on con-
venient projecting twig, climbing from
there to the upper bridge, running
across it, then down the opposite side to
to the proper place, and finally hauling
in the slack
"Do all spiders spin webs?'
mo, some spiders are called vaga-
bond spiders for the reason that they
do not spin webs. The most interesting
sort of vagabond spider is the so-called
trap-door spider, which makes box,
often as big as your two fists, of earth
cemented into large mass by the
spiders own excretion. The box has a
little trap-door at one end with a
strong elastic thread to serve as a
spring. The nest looks like nothing
but clod of dirt. and the door springs
to so perfectly-eyen in the case OF
those that have been kept for years as
curios-that you can not see any trace
of an opening. Another vagabond
spidcr lives in hole in the ground a
foot deep with little nest on top of the
hole made of small sticks and grass
There is a very curious weaving spider
called the 'gossamer or flying spider
On warm fall day you will often find
the air anoat with spiders webbs, and
if Won examine cthem you will find
dozens of little spiders in the webs
These rossamer spiders in pleasant
autumn weather attach a thread to the
70, Ia 1.,yx-