The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-12-28
SPIDERS AS ARcHIrEcrs.
Remarkable Sill Displayed by the In
ssots I'm making Their Webs.

Remarkable Skill Displayed by the In
sscts I'm waking Their Webs.
From the Youths Companion. fEIg
No one who has spent much time In the
country can have failed to observe and
admire the beautiful webs of the little
garden spider. These webs. circular IN
outline. with radiating threads running
from center to circumference and sup
porting a system Of concentric lines. are
regarded by naturalists as the highest
architectural achievements of spiders.
The maker of the web sits at dts center.
where the slightest vibration caused by
the struggles OF an entagled victim is in
simultaneously felt. The threads are so
fine as to be almost invisible In some
lights, and at the same time so strong
that no insect not too powerful for the
spider to overcome Is able to break
chem. The great ingenuity and perfection
of these Reometrical webs naturally gives
rise to the question: How did the spider
learn the art Of making them? The nat
uar1list - not satisfied with the reply that
II II matter OF instinct. He finds that
there are wide differences among the
webs Of the different spiders and his OBJ
servations lead him to think that he can
discern a sort of progress. which he calls
evolution, In the art Of webmaking
among spiders.
The common house spider spins a web
quite different from that Of the garden
spider. The house spiders web consists
OF a snken tube hidden In a dark corner.
with an irregular sheet OF closely-woven
meshes spread before IL. The tube Is the
spiders lurking hole and place OF refuge. /:
the outside web is It's snare.
The wolf-spider makes a tubular hole
w3thA ( hinged door for a refuge, and
spreads no snare stu another species OF
spider constructs a far simpler tube of
silk without any lid or door.
: Now. according to the view Of a distin-
guished English naturalist. Mr.. r. i. Po-
cock. these different kinds of webs or
nests represent so many stages of devel-
opment. he thinks that at the beginning
the only kind OF web that any spider
knew how TO spin was a simple cocoon
intended to protect the eggs. Then a
web for the protection of the spider itself
from its enemies was woven around the
cocoon. This web had an opening for in
grefss and egress. and such webs, in
tended for use only during the time that
the eggs are Matching, are still spun by
some kinds Of spiders.
The next step was the development of a
snare. 1t has been suggested that this
may have resulted from the accidental
spinning of threads over and around the
opening of a tubular retreat surrounding
a cocoon. This was further developed in
the outspread net of the house spider.
and dt reached its highest form when the
garden spider learned to construct it's
beautiful radiated web.
One may trace In all this some resem-
blance to the progress Of architecture
among men. The earliest representatives
of the human race were content to dwell
I'm caves and rudely constructed huts.
And to-day there are savage tribes which
have not advanced much farther in this
respect. Then more elaborate dwelling
places and buildings intended for other
purposes were constructed. until, by sue
cessive steps, we have arrived at the tenn
pies, palaces and houses of civilized hfe