The citizen., 1905-01-27
TIE GOLDEN SPIDER.
HOW THE GiLDEO TYRAtO GATHERS
m THE GRAssHOPPeRS.
Cunning of the Spider That CntchS1
Its Frey with n Lnrso-Onc Species
Thnt Makes Balloons, nnd Another
That builds Diving Bells.

markings, IL the huge golden spider
sitting in her house woven Of sllken
mcshes. Her weaving, too Is marvel
ously strong. and the six guy ropes
that support her swinging habitation
some five feet long. And what may
Nine. Spider be watching fori All, a
gay green grasshopper, that, with more
athletic action than wisdom, springs
right into the very midst Of Nine.
Spiders net. And she had been on
the alert for just such n victim The
web swings to and fro with such vio-
lcnce that one would expect It to be
torn to shreds. But, no; before the
stupid grasshopper can possibly kick
himself loose, and Notwithstanding his
struggles have torn large rent In the
web, he finds hipself incased In n silk
en- shroud, deftly woven by his enemy,
and In this he swings helplessly, Then
Nine. Spider comes down her Zigzag
stairway and sizes up her catch, may
be gives him little nlpping bite and
then leaves him to his fate until such
time as she wishes to serve him up
for the family dinner
There are many of these great golden
spiders In thickcts. All Of them look
sleek and well fed. There Is an Amer
lean spider which haunts evergreen
trees and catches It's prey by means OF
II lasso The web Of this spider is tri
angular in form. consisting Of four
longitudinal lines and large number
of cross tbcrs connecting them Two
corners Of the triangle are attached to
twigs. but the other corner which
terminates In single thread, Is held
by the spider. pcrching on n neighbor
ing twig When fly strikes the web
the spider looscns his hold, and the
elastic threads instantly cntangle tho
victim.
IL YOU anchor n pole In body of
water. leaving the pole above the sur
face. and put n spider upon ii, he viii
exhibit Il marvellous intelligence by his
plans OF escape. At first he will spin
web several inches long and hang 10
one end, while he allows the other To
float or In the wind. In the hope that
II will strike some object. or course
this plan proves failure He waits
until the wind shifts perhaps and then
sends another silken bridge floating of
In another direction. Another failure
IN followed by several other similar at
tcmpts until NIL points of the compass
have been tried. But neither the re
sources nor the reasoning powers of the
spider are exhausted. He climbs to
the top of the pole and cnergetically
goes 10 work TO construct silken bal
loon
lie has no hot air with which to in
fate Il, but he has the power Of max
ing II huoyant. When he gets his bal
loon finished he does not 20 or upon
the mere supposition that II will carry
him. as men often do. but he fastens
II 10 n guy rope. He then gets into his
aerial vehicle while IL is fast and tests
IL ~ see whether its dimensions are
capable of bearing him away He
sometimes fluids that he has made ii
too small, in which case he haulS II
down. takes il all apart and constructs
II ON Il larger and better plan A spider
has been seen Il make three different
balloons before he became satisfied
with his experiment. Then he VIII set
in. snap his suy rope and sail away. To
land as gracefully and as supremely
independent 81 his surroundings as
could well be imagined.
The diving bell is considered 70 be a
great invention. YET long before man
thought ot his diving bell the water
sspideC had hers, In which she reared
her numerous family. There are sever
al remarkable things about this nest.
One Of them is the manner in which il
is made,
In thar buSiueSSli6e manner which
characgeriEeS au spiders she h1ldly
plungeS into the water and walks down
Vhe stem ~ = pond wsei. When she
has Sele>ted s. suitable position for her
Si,NSD palace She feNeS s number ~
strong liueS IN Sll directions for anchor,
axe Then IN the midst Of these she
canStrUc,$ 3 beautiful web. Sonew nag
in The shape Of thimbls, Nut not
quite 50 large, Ii is tllll ~ water and
tAeCcINve uog Ike 4 diving bell. HOW
is the wSter - hS goe CUT Syi replacei
with Siry
The true explanation Is wonderful.
She carries the whole - the sir rs
QUicSI teo0 The suvtSce. He, h,tiy
SrG less &ce covecS>i with S-ayiSA
hairs She p,u,>SeS quickly into tie
wSceS, The movement Is 81 rSp.d tnSS
Tie air h&S naS y11se - eScSQs too,n her
eSs-y ca&C. and she S,>SS down sur
casu,iEd by SsoecleS ~ sir. When
acroSS the threshold at her own h,.,ae
SIC eSoctl,,y GsSso<isSS this Sic Ny rub
Ns,IS heS$e,5 WITH As- les The III
SvSccG oWeA,sS inaseSs,&te,y SrsSe u
tNS C>Sg - ~ house Sr3 these -e>
,,,SSo In ~ Nay SAs ~ length SIS
tie wssO,e eSsl Ss& takes ~ Ae- poSS-
s5>a IN Il. SswSyS hsS6 downward
GcSs sc rsSsas tie wSacs-, Sesr
So,,S Sn3 e~ses UGs0 sAs warm days
et SS-ssS Iavsee he1 - sAe Sa,t&ce =
Guess q &ssS SssS NsnSr snail Snsece$--
tSsHs4cosysS NsgSss-s.
Saksag en- Carpet.
SSSHsecs ~goa cS-pSS ASs teoss7g
g ss'--ss - vCScs, S22cS kyS- -
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