The Portland daily press., 1901-02-26
SKILL OF THE SPIDER.
Ths weaving Of u. wen Very won
derfui Work.

The spider is the original telegraph line
man. Indeed be Is something more.
After his lines are stretched he cstab.
fishes a Central" to which he runs as
soon as any sort OF vibration tells him
that prey is entangled anywhere in bis
web. Once at central he listens a min
ute; then, having gathered the direction,
glides away, to weave still further net
ting Of silken web about the luckless
wasp or hy that has fallen into his
clutches.
"IIe" would more properly be written
She" as, in case of so many insects.
the female spider is ever so much bigger,
more powerful and more resoureeful tSan
the male. Spider courtship is, in fact. a
perilous process for the wooer. Unless
he shows himself both brave and nimble
he is in danger OF being eaten before he
gets the ear OF his fair one. BY way Of
evening matters, after marriage he shows
himself a most heartless parent, seizing
upon the clutch OF eggs as soon as laid
and devouring them before the eyes of
their ngonized author. Thus IL is that the
agonizcd mother spider keeps n death
grip upon her bag OF eggs. IL is the dain-
tiest fairy silken pocket, varying in shape
anu nAAt aNtOtniAE " oRtNANnf UuA always
exceedingly handsome and well spun. At
the first hint OF attack the mother seizes
il and hurries away, often spinning a
thread as she goes in the effort TO escape.
She will lose q leg, two legs even, cheer
fully In its defense That is not, how
ever, so wonderful as the fact that the
lost legs very quickly grow again.
The name spider runs back to the Sax
on, spinan, to spin; also the root Of that
austere word spinster. The Dutch name
for the insect is cop or cob, head; hence
cobweb, head or cobwoyen, is lingually
allied to the so famous Spion-Kop. But
cobweb is by no means so expressive as
gossamer or sommerwebben, the summer
woven.
In substance spider web is nearly iden-
teal with silk. But the spinners OF it are
far too wise to reel it up into cocoons,
which may be plundered by men to feed
the desire Of the eyes and the pride of
life. Web spinning is very wonderful
work. The workers indeed deserve high
rank as civil engineers, and often deal
with knotty problems in ways bespeak-
ing almost human intelligence, as, for In
stance, when they spin loose threads so
deftIy and with such nice calculation OF
wind force that the loose ends are carried
exactly TO the chosen spot, often a couple
of yards away, and there anchor them
selves OF their own motion. 1t is thus
the fairy cables which net trees and
boughs and stretch across all summer
paths are set in place. They are invisi-
bic save whore the full sun glnts upon
them or else when misty morning
strings them with dewdrops. None the
less they hold firm and serve as aerial
passageways along which the spiders run
to and fro safely and swiftly, or else
they serve ms guys to brace the main
web. In spinning the spider shows ar
chitectural genius TO match her engineer
ing skill.
First she surveys a site, then stretches
across it a strong thread. She is not par
ticular about having this frst thread very
taut All that can be managed later.
She spins another thread from the end Of
this diagonslly to another point. whence
she goes to a third anchorage, fourth,
even fifth. Now she has clear central
Enclosed at irregular angles. The inclos-
ing threads have been spun OF pure silk.
The next thing Is TO go over them with
n yiscid exudation which will make what
ever touches them stick. When that Is
done, she spins the web proper, running
from side to side, with a thread trailing
behind her. until all the web spokes are
in place Before she weaves the rays to-
Cether with crossing threads she must
know that both they and the anchor
threads are dependable. So she runs
about. stretching. straining every one,
and If It breaks spinning it over Where
there is pronounced slack she either takes
II up by splicing new thread next the
center and fastening II outside or by at
taching light weights, pebbles, bits OF
stick, and so on, to the webs lower edge
Now begins the last work-running
round and round. The crossing threads
are spun double. first very fine, then
with coarser ply. At the middle, where
the ray threads meet and cross, she Ell
ther builds herself a snug station or after
everything is done cuts away the tangle
and leaves a small, clear space. This is
the parlor into which the traditional hy
was invited. with disastrous results, but
Mme. Spider does not habtually sit in
1t. Instead she turks out OF sight, am
bushed at the foot of ray thread. When
tell of prey, she seeks the par
lor, locates the disturbance aud straight
way goes TO see about 1t. A strong wing
esi insect, as wasp or bumblebee, left
10 ulinSei WIN Sooh pieah Vut VI hSi
fiimsy tolls, though he may so entangle
his wings in doing 1t that he never flies
gain. So she takes no chances. Nimbly
she runs down the nearest ray thread,
as she runs. When she is lit
tie beyond her victim. she dexterously
loops her new cable round him, draws it
taut and fastens it.
When this has been repeated half
dozen times, the prey, bound wing and
foot, Is ready for removal. She fastens
a new thread at the parlor. loops it
around the fy or wasp, carries it back
and pulls 1t as tight as she can. Some
times she moves her prey a whole half
inch with one thread. The next thing is
10 cut away all the outer threads that