The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-03-28

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it had nothing to fear from rain, with
out any cover. 1t was very gracefully
suspended to a beam by some elegant
silken threads, which l should
call little hands, such as are possessed
by the climbing plants. Within, brood
ing on it's eggs with a constant incuba-
ton, might be seen a spider. 1t v
stirred, except, perhaps, for a moment
al night, IN quest Of food. Never vas
there any animal so timed. At the
gentlest approaches fear made it fly
and almost fall. Once when we dis
turbed it a little abruptly, it was seized
with such an excess Of terror that it
did not recover for an entire day. 1t
sat for six weeks, and but for these
pertuberations would have remained
much longer.
AN admirable mother, an ingenious
and delicate artist, before all things a
female, a female and timid to
the highest degree, this strange,
tive creature explained to me perfectly
the very opposite sentiments with
which the spider inspired us-those Of
repulsion and attraction. We start
away from it, and yet we draw g a to
it. 1t is so coarse, and yet at the same
time 80 prodigiously sensitive! It
breathes as we do. And the delicate
tubercle which secretes its silk, like a
milky cloud las the microscope shoW VS.
us), is the most delicate organ which
exists, perhaps in nature"
The spider has many enemies, and
hence its web is always in danger of be-
ing deranged and damaged; to meet
this inconvenience, nature has furnish
ed the insect with a magazine of ma
terials for occasional repairs, and
which, although frequently exhausted,
still continues to be r~eplenished this
this reservoir, however, is drained in
time. When spiders grow old, their
supply of gum is dried up; but even
when this calamity happens, the cum
ming creature is not altogether destitute
of resources which avail it for some
time longer. A crafty old spider, hav
ing no longer the means OF securing a
substance, seeks a young one, to which
ties; on which the other, either out Of
respect for old age or from a dread Of
old pir C RS, resigns its place and spins
q new web in another situation. But
if the old spider can ind none Of its
species which will either from love or
fear resign its net, it must then perish
for want Of subsistence
Taere are many species Of spiders,
each created for a purpose, and that a
useful one, whether we understand or
appreciate them, it matters not. That
nothing was created in vain is a truism
that applies to spiders with as much
force as to any Of the supposed higher
orders'of creation.
Among the species is the gossamer
spider that made aerial voyages long
before the balloon was invent Ted. This
spider spins a web much lighter than
the air, which, when there is but little
air stirring, will ascend several hun
dred feet in height Tnis ia the spiders
balloon, in which ne travels up and
down in search Of other insects for
food.
The water spider is an amphibious
insect and may be said to be the inven
tor Of the diving bell. This creature
spins a web under the surface of the
leaf of q water plant in the form and
size Of half q pigeons egg. This is
coated over with a light, glutinous
substance which resembles liquid glass
and so elastic as to admit considerable
distention and contraction. 1t next
lays a coating Of the same same sub
stance over it's own body and under
meath this coating introduces a bubble
Of air. Thus clothed and shining like
a ball of quicksilver, it darts through
the water to the spot in which it has
fixed its habitation, and, disengaging
the bubble from under the pellicIe, it
dexterously introduces it t the shell
like web formed under the water.
After repeatedly moving from the top
to the bottom Of the water, and at
each journey filing it's h~abitation with
a fresh bubble of air, at length tho air
expels the water and the insect takes
possession of an aerial habitation com
moddious and dry, finished in the very
midst of the waters. From this curious
chamber the spider hunts, searching
sometimes the water and sometimes
the earth for it's prey, which when OBJ
tanned is transported to the sub quatic
mansion and devoured at leisure.