Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1891-02-05
Saint Narg's Beacon.


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bees have had their patient. loving
ehronicIers, who have devoted years
to the study Of sheir battles and Pc
culiariiies, spiders have not secured
an equal amount Of attention from To-
vers Of all that ID most interesting in
the animal world? suppose that
the most instructive dislike with which
most people look upon the spider in
responsible for this neglect. Il GER
tainly cannot be said that these crsa.
lures have not 50 many interesting
characteristics az bees or ants have.
None Of the smaller members Of crea-
tion excel them IN this respect; in
deed. / venture TO cay that spiders of.
fer more attractive traits 10 the OBJ
server who can bring himself TO ig-
more their ugliness than any other in.
mates of our houses and gar2sns. ]
will endavor to support this conten-
lion by giving some Of the results Of
my observations Of spiders. supple
menting my own knowledge of the
subject with information drawn from
the writings Of those naturalists who
have bestowed more than the mere cur
sorry attention on these clever crsa-
tures.
To begin with. it may be stated
that the spider is not an insect. though
probably nine people out of ten would
class it Under this term. With scor.
pions and mites. spiders form class
in the animal kingdom known az the
Arachnida. The name 10 derived
from q mythical parsonage called Ar
achne, the daughter ofa Purple-dyer
of Lydia, who was tabled to have
challenged Minerva to trial of skill
in spinning. So indignant was the
goddess at this act Of boldness that
she forthwith transformed the hapless
challenger into spider. presumably
in order that she might have the best
possible opportunity of practicing the
art on which she pridsd herself 60
much Spiders differ from insects in
FIVE main particulars: Their eyes are
simple instead of compound; they have
eight legs in place of six; they do not
pass through the metamorphoses which
are characteristic of insects; they
have no antenn@, and their breathing
is accomplished By means Of organs
which combine the functions of lungs
and gills, instead of by tubes pervad-
ing their bodies. These points of die.
tinction are sufficient to determine the
fact that it 10 impossible 10 class spi.
ders as insects.
The strength of the spider silk 10
incredible. Size for size it 10 consid-
erably tougher than . bar of steel.
An ordinary spiders thread 10 capa.
bic Of bearing weight Of three grains.
while a steel thread Of the came
thickness would support less than
two. A bar of steel one inch in di.
ameter will bear 9 weight of fifty tons,
but it is calculated that if spiders
thread Of the same size could exist, it
would be capable of supporting q
weight Of seventy. four tone; that 10 to
say, its strength would be half az
great again as that of steel. or nearly
three times that of wrought iron.
The web Of the house spider differs
from that of the garden variety in
two points; it's mesh is much finer,
and it is composed of one kind Of silk
only. The flies which find their way
into it are detained by the entangls.
ment Of their claws in the fine N eshes.
The house spider. as a rule, makes it's
snare in the corner Of the room; ito
first operation is to press the spinners
against the wall, thus occurring the
threads in q particular spot. then it
goes to the opposite side. and fastens
the other end of the thread. Thi.
primary line is strengthened by two
or three others being run along beside
it. threads are drawn from it 10 vari.
Gus directions, and the intsrstices are
filled BY the spiders running back.
ward and forward. always leaving q
line behind il. In one corner of the
completed web a tubs is made, in
which. the spider concsals itself and
waits for the appearance Of unwary
fies.
It is not surprising that so I'M
canny looking a creature as the sub
ject of this sketch should have vari-
GUS attributes of . more or less sur.
prising nature awarded to it. In IN.
raj districts it 10 no uncommon occur
renee 10 find that there 10 firm be-
lief in the curative powers Of spiders
in cases of ague. EleazAr Albin says
tina. he has been instrumental in cur
ing several children of this complaint
"by hanging large spider. confined
in box, about their necks, reaching