Daily Arizona silver belt., 1907-11-20
WEB OF THE SPIDER
The Many Uses to Which Its Singular
 Spinner Puts 1t

Spiders form good subjects for rainy day study, and two hours spent in a neglected garret watching these clever
 little beings will often arouse such in terest that we shall be glad to devote many days of sunshine to observing those species which hunt and build and live in the open fields. There is no in. sect in the world with more than six legs, and as spider has eight he Is therefore thrown out of the company of butterflies, beetles and wasps and finds himself in strange assemblage. Even to his nearest relatives he bears little resemblance, for when we real ize that scorpions and horseshoe crabs must call him cousin we perceive that his Is indeed an aberrant bough on the tree of creation.
 Nature has provided spiders with an organ filled always with liquid, which on being exposed to the air hardens and can be drawn out into the slender threads which we know as cobweb The siIlzworm incases it's body with | mile or more of gleaming silk, but there it's usefulness is ended, as far as the silkworm is concerned. But spi. ders have found a hundred uses for their cordage, some of which are star tiingIz similar to human inventions.
 A list of all the uses of cobwets would take much space, hut of these the most familiar is the snare set for unwary fiies-the wonderfully ingen. ious webs which sparkle with dew among the grasses or stretch from bus to bush. The framework is of weJ. ping, and upon this is woven the sticky spiral which is so elastic. so ethereal, and yet strong enough to entangle a good sized insect How knowing seems the little worker as, the web aud bis den of concealment being completed. he spins strong cable from the center of the web to the entrance of his watcntowrr Then, when a trembling of his aerial spans warns him of cap ture, how eagerly he seizes his master cable and jerks away on it, thus vibrat ing the whole structure and making more certain the confusion of his vic. tim.
 Those spiders which leap upon their prey instead of setting snares for it have still a use for their threads of life. throwing out cable as they leap to break their fall if they miss thei: foothold. What strange use of the cobweb is that of the little flying spi- dersl Up they run to the top of post, elevate their abdomens and run out several threads, which lengthen and lengthen until the breeze catches them, and away goes the wingless aero. naut for yards or for miles, as fortune may dictate. We wonder if he can cut loose or pull in his balloon cables at will.
 A most fascinating tale would unfold could we discover all the uses of cob web when the spiders themselves are through with 1t. Certain 1t Is that our ruby throated humming bird robs many webs to fasten together the plant down and llchens which compose her dainty nest.
 Search the pond and you will find another member of the spider family swimming about at ease beneath the surface, thoroughly aquatic fn his habits, but breathing a bubble of air which he carries about with him. | When his supply is low. he swims to submarine castle of silk, so air tight l that he can keep it filled with a large bubble of air, upon which he draws from time to time.
 And so we might go on enumerating almost endless uses for the web, which ! Is natures gift to these little waifs who ages ago left the sea and have won place for themselves in the sun. shine among the butterflies and flow ers.-C. William Beebe in New York Post.