The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1905-02-01

en- by his enemy, and In this he swings
helplessly. Then Madame Spider
comes down her zlgzag stairway and
sizes mp her catch; maybe gives him q
little nlpplng bite, and then leaves him
to his fate, until such times as she
wishes to serve him up for the family
dinner.
There are many Of these great gold
en- spiders in thlckets. All of them
look sleek and well fed There Is an
American spider which haunts ever
green trees and catches It's prey by
means Of n lasso. The web of this
spider is triangular in form. consist
Ing of -four longitudinal lines and a
large number of cross fibres connect
ing them. Two corners of the TRAN
gle are attached to twigs but the other
corner, which terminates in a single
thread. is held by the spider, perchng
on n nelghborlng twig. When 6y
strikes the web the spider loosens his
| hold and the elastic threads instantly
entangle the victim.
IL you anchor pole In a body Of
water, leaving the pole above the sur
| face. and put spider upon It, he will
exhibit n marvellous intelligence by
| his plans Of escape. At first lie will
| spin n web several inches long and
| hang TO one end. while lie allows the
other to float Off IN the wind in the
| hope that 1t will strike some object.
| OF course. this plan proves a failure.
| He waits till the wind shifts. perhaps,
| and then sends another silken bridge
| floating off in another direction. An
other failure is followed by several
| other similar attempts until all points
| Of the compass have been tried. *
| neither the resources nor the rea ason.
| ing powers Of the spider are exhaust
| ed. He climbs TO the top Of the pole
and energetically goes to work to. con-
struct n sllken balloon.
lie has no hot air with which TO in.
fate it, but he has the power Of max
ing it buoyant. When lie gets his
balloon finished lie does not go of
upon the mere supposition that 1t will
carry him. as men often do. but he
| fastens II to n guy rope. He then gets
into HIS aerial vehicle while 1t is fast
and tests it to see whether its dimen.
sions are capable OF bearing him away,
| He sometimes finds that lie had made
1t too small. in which case he bauls it
down. takes 1t aIl apart and constructs
| it on larger and better plan. A spid.
er has been seen TO make three differ
mt 10 hnf Io
fed with his experiment. Then he
will get in. snap his guy rope and sail
away TO land as gracefully and as SUI
premely Independent Of his surround
ings as could we'll b. imagined.
The diving bell is considered to be
n great invention yet long before man
thought OF his diving bell the water
spider had hers. in which she reared
her numerous family. There are sew.
eral remarkable things about this nest.
One of them is tie m.nner in which it
Is made.
In that business-like manner which
characterizes all spiders, she boldly
plunges into the WAGER and walks dowu
the stem OF a pond weed. When she
has selected q suitable position for her
silken palace she nexes number of
strong lines in all directions for an
chorage. Then in the midst Of these
SHE constructs n beautiful web. some
what in the shape of thmble. but
not quite 50 large II IS full Of wate:.
and therefore not like n diving bell.
How is the water 10 be got out and
replaced with air?
The true explanation is wonderful.
She carries the whole of the air re-
quired from the surface. Her body
and legs are covered with graylsh
Lair; she plunges quickly into the wa
ter. The movement is so rapid that
the air has not time TO escape from
her hairy coat. and she goes down
surrounded by globules Of hair. When
across the threshold of her own home
she carefully dislodges this air by rub
bling herself with her legs. The liber-
ated bubbles immediately rise to the
roof of her house and there remain.
In this way she at length fills the
whole bell and takes up her position
in it. always head downward. Here
she passes the winter. keeping snug
and quiet until the warm days Of
spring invite her to the surface in
quest Of flies and other small insects.
-Lippincott's Magazine.