Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1905-01-03
THE GOLDEN SPIDER.
HOW The GllDep TYRANr GATHERS
IN tbs GRASSAOPpERS.
Cunning a. tae spider That Catches
Its Prey W'ith Il LnSso-Onc Species
That Makes Balloons. and Another
That Builds Diving bells.

sitting In her house woven of silken
meshes. Her weaving. too, IL marvel.
ously strong. and the six guy ropes
that support her swinging habitation
some five feet long, Aud what may
Nine. Spider be watching for? All, a
gay green gr~asshopper, that, with more
athletic action than wisdom, springs
right into the very midst OF Mime.
Spiders net. And she had been on
the alert for just such a victim. The
web swings to and fro with such VIC
lence that n would expect il to be
torn to shreds. But, no; before the
stupid grasshopper can possibly kick
himself loose, and, Notwithstanding his
struggles have torn Il large rent in the
web, he finds himself incased in n silk
en- shroud, deftly woven by his enemy,
and in this he swings helplessly. Then
Nine. Spider down her zigzag
stairway and sizes up her catch. may
be gives him a little nipping 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 thickets, All OF them look
sleek and well fed. There Is an Amer
lean spider which haunts evergreen
trees and catches its prey by means of
a lasso. The web of this spider is tri-
angular in form, consisting of four
longitudinal lines ana a large number
of cross iibers connecting them Two
corners Of the triangle are attached to
twigs, but the other corner, which
terminates in a single thread, il held
by the spider. perching on IA neighbor-
Ing twig. When a fly strikes the web
the spider loosens his hold, and the
elastic threads instantly e%ntangle the
victim.
If YOU anchor a pole in a body of
face, and pu, a spider upon ii. he will
exhibit a marvellous intelligence by his
plans of escape. At first he will spin
Il web several inches long and hang to
ms end. while he 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
until the wind shifts perhaps and then
sends another silken bridge floating of
in another direction. Another failure
is followed by several other similar AT.
teinpts until all points of the compass
have been tried. But neither the re
sources nor the reasoning powers of the
spider are exhausted. lie climbs to
the tol, of the pole and energeticaily
goes to WORK to construct a silken bal
loon.
lie has no hot air with which to in.
fate it. bu; he has the power of max.
inc it buoyant. When he gets his bal.
loon finished he does not go Off upon
the mere supposition that it will carry
him, as men often do. but he fastens
Ii TO a guy rope. He then gets into his
aerial vehicle while 1t is fast and tests
II to see whether its dimensions are
capable Of hearing him away. He
sometimes finds that he has made Ii
too small. in which ease he hauls 1t
down, takes II all apart and constructs
1t on n larger and better plan. A spider
has been seen to make three different
balloons before he became satisfied
with his experiment. Then he will get
In, snap his guy rope and sail away, to
land as gracefully and as supremacy
Independent Of his surroundings as
could well be 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 sever
al remarkable things about this nest.
One Of them is the manner in which IL
is made.
In that busincsslike manner which
cbaracterizes all spiders she boldly
plungcs into the water and walks down
the stem Of n pond weed. When she
has selected a suitable position for her
silken palace she fieSes a number of
strong liues in all directions for anchor.
age. Then In the midst Of these she
constructs a beautiful web, somewhat
In the shape of a thimble, but not
quite so large. Ii is full OF water and
therefore not like Il diving bell. How
Is the water TO be got out and replaced |
with air?
The true explanation is wonderful.
She carries the whole of the air re
qnired from the surface. Her body
and legs are covered with grayish
hairs. She pluiiges quickly into tie
water. The movement Is so rapid that
the air has NOT time 10 escape from her
hairy coat. and she goes down sur.
rounded BY glohulcs of air. When
across the threshold of her own home
she carefully dislojges this air by rub |
bling herself with her legs. The lib
Grated bubbles Immediately arise to
the roof OF hcr house nd there re.
main. In th,s way she at length fills
the whole bell and takes up her post
tion in il, 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.