The Portland daily press., 1892-05-06
WONDER TALK ABOUT SPIDERS.
Species That Have Strange ways-Thein
Dreaded Foe the Wasp.
Washington Star.1.

Washington Start
Spiders are wonderfully fond of the
music made by stringed Instruments 2
said an entomologist to writer of the
Star. sit is not because they enjoy
melody, but simply for the reason that
the sounds to their ears resemble the
buzzing of captive flies. By gentle touch
ing the strings of a guitar one can often
cause spiders to come down the walls or
from the ceilings. They will even walk
over the strings and while doing so they
appear to be eagerly searching for some
thing, moving about excitedly and look
ing fierce and hungry.
"a kind of spider native to South
America is remarkable for the great
length of its legs and has very singular
method of defending Itself. When at
tackled it gathers it's feet together, fast
ening them to the centre of its web, and
gyrates with the velocity of whirligig,
so that it appears like a mist on the web,
offering no point for any enemy to strike
at. There is another species which
fights by throwing net about its adj
versary. / have seen duel between
two individuals, in which each tried to
entangle the other in snares cunningly
cast, the dexterity with which they
avoided capture being wonderful. At
length one was tripped, and presently
the successful combatant began revoly-
ing round and round her opponent, the
later being soon wrapped in silvery CO.
coon, which was its winding sheet.
Among the most remarkable spiders
is the Dolomedes, which runs over the
surface Of the water in pursuit of it's
prey and dives to escape from it's enc
mics. Stranger still is the Argyroneta,
which builds its house wherein it laws
its eggs and rears its young at the bot
tom of streams. Some species are exceed
ingly ferocious, though none more SO
than the huge gray Lycosa, with black
rim around its middle, which will chase
people on slight provocations. This
catching birds, has been known to pur-
sue men on horseback.
',Dr. w. FL. Hudson tells such an adj
venture which he met with while riding
across plain covered with dry grass.
Pursuing his way at an easy trot he sud-
denly observed great spider chasing
him, leaping swiftly along and keeping
up with the horse. He aimed a blow
with his whip at the ferocious insect,
and the point of the lash struck the
ground close to it, when it instantly
leaped upon and ran up the lash. It
was actually within three orfour inches
of the hand that held the whip before
the latter was suddenly dropped. These
great hairy spiders are very formidable
in appearance. When approached they
stand erect on their four hind feet like
pugilists, threatening the adversary.
then, dropping upon all eight feet, thew
charge to the attack.
1.-THE greatest enemies of spiders are
wasps, which do not kill them outright
customarily, but simply disable them
for the purpose of utilizing them while
living as food for their young. The
wasp, as soon as it has paralyzed the
victim by singing it, drags the now
helpless spider to hole. Placing it in
the bottom of the hole the captor lays an
egg along side Of it; then coming out, ii
fills up and obliterates the hole with
dust and rubbish, flying away thereupor