Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1897-08-05
STREET or YELLOW spIOeHs.
Curious Discovery In Florida Thiokst-
A Mantle OF Mimlcry.


A Mantle OF Mimlcry.
Once in attempting to force my way
through the thick bay cedar under
brush of one of the smaller and outer
KEYS of the Florida reef, suddenly
broke into an opening which had the
appearance of a narrow street or
trail. The brush was six or eight
feet in height and remarkably thick,
and the heat was intolerable. The
branches and leaves which were inter
laced formed perfect network, and
gave shelter to innumerable crabs,
which had taken possession OF old
birds nest, while under foot the eggs
and newly Matched terms almost cover
ed the ground.
Once in the opening or street, 1T
was found to be about seven feet
across, winding away out of sight; but
my way was blocked by several Curl
GUS obstacles-a succession of webs
stretched vertically across the pathway
ut intervals of five or six feet. They
were of extraordinary strength, and
were thrown out and poised in mar
yellous manner. In the centre of
each of these silken barriers chung a
huge yellow spider, so ugly and con-
spicuous that stopped before the
first doubling the evidence OF my
eyes; and as L looked, the first yellow
spider of the series disappeared.
| There was no doubt about it, at first
so striking and gaudy, it slowly faded
away, and through the web l could
see other yellow spiders beyond, sug-
| costing that it was no illusion.
While / stood wondering in the hot
sun, the spider solved the mystery by
appearing again, first dimly, then like
many spiders quivering in the strong
light, finally resolving itself into one
huge yellow fellow that moved like a
pendulum to and fro and then stopped.
1 touched it gently with switch l
held, whereupon it deliberately began
to swing its huge body, imparting to
the entire web vibratory motion
which increased in rapidity until the
body of the spider began to grow
fainter, and in few moments became
invisible. 1t was all very simple
when understood; the spider when
alarmed began to swing, gradually in
creasing his motion until it disap-
peared or could not be followed by the
eye. Thinking the case might be ex-
ceptional, 1 again touched the spider,
and again it literally swung itself out
of sight.
| Crawling beneath the web, / con-
fronted the next spider, which also
was yellow or saffron in color, with
black velvet-like markings, hanging
in the sun like great topaz, its web
| dotted with the remains of many
feasts, empty skeletons of insects, bits
of pearly fish-scales, perhaps dropped
by some passing bird, delicate fea-
Their, and motley array of flies and
other insect-folk. At first the spider
paid me scant attention. then saw a
| slight convulsive movement of its legs
as it impaired the first long swing to
its hammock Like web that put this
wonderful life-saving device, for this
it was, in motion. 1t was the spiders
defence and protection from enemies.
Certain birds undoubtedly preyed
upon the spiders, and this faculty of
mysteriously disappearing had on
more than one occasion served it well.
1 could easily imagine the astonish-
ment of the bird when darling down
to seize the plump and snowy spider
to find that it had slipped away.
| There was much in this street of
| yellow spiders to distract the mind
from the intense heat that poured
down from the almost vertical sun. In
the middle of the path, beyond turn,
grew a clump of cactus, with here
and there ripe fruit rich in the pur-
| pie of full maturity brilliant con-
trast to the green leaves. AS stood
| watching the hermit-crabs dropping
from the bushes and scurrying away
over the sand, thought l saw a ripe
fruit of the cactus move; then, to my
amazement it passed directly Sbut of
sight; and after the fashion of the
spiders, but he slipped around one of
the big leaves. / almost expected to
see the others follow it, but nothing
of the kind occurred. walked along
and placed myself in position to see
behind the broad, fiat, pear-shaped
leaf. There was the purple object
now moving cautiously around with
the evident intention of keeping itself
out of sight, and then L saw it was a
crab, a crab with a purple back the
exact tint of the fruit, while its gen.
eral shape, when the legs were tucked
up beneath the body, made the crab
a mimic of the cactus fruit, protec-
tive resemblance so perfect that the
crab was safe from sharp-eyed enemies
and should have passed it by had it
remained quiet; but the phenomenon
of moving fruit attraced my atten-
ton and led to its discovery.
For some distance 1 followed this
street of spiders, creeping beneath the
webs when L could, and everywhere
these tricks of nature to protect the
defenceless were apparent. The eggs
of the gulls simulated the sand in
color; the little mantis, which chung
to the big cedar, was the exact tint of
the leaves and defied detection until
accidentally brushed off. Over all
life in the secluded spot nature had
thrown her protective mantle of MINI
icry. New York Post.