The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1907-05-24
THE spin ER's gEB.
III Hslatisn . chs Progress 81 Aren't.
KIN tsckurs Amonn Mon.

~ Rslatisn q chs Progress 81 Aren't.
A tsokurs Among Men. "a
5 No one who has spent much time in
the country can have failed to observe
and admire the beautiful webs Of the
little garden spider. These webs, cir
cular In outline, with radiating threads
running from center to circumference
and supporting series of concentric
lines, are regarded by nuturalists as
the highest architectural achievement
Of the spider.
The maker Of the web sits at its
center, where the slightest vibration
caused by the struggles of an entan-
gled victim Is instantaneously felt.
The threads are so fine as almost to be
invisible in some lights and at the
same time so strong that no insect not
too powerful for the spider to overcome
10 able to break them.
How did the spider learn the art of
making these webs? Their great in
genuity and perfection Of geometric
form are conceded. The naturalist Is
not satisfied with the reply that it Is
a matter Of instinct. He learns that
there are wide differences to be found
among the webs of different spiders.
and his observations lead him to think
that he can discern a sort of actual
progress, which he calls evolution in
the art Of web making among spiders.
The common house spider spins a
web quite different from that Of the
garden spider. The house spiders
web consists of 4 silken tube hidden in
q dark corner with an irregular sheet
Of closely woven meshes spread before
It. The tube is the spiders lurking
hole and place Of refuge; the outspread
web is its snare. The wolf spider
makes tubular hole with hinged
door for a refuge, and spreads no
snare, relying entirely on its own
prowess to overcome the unsuspecting
victim. Still another species Of spider
constructs a far simpler tube without
any lid or door.
ist at Washington, these different kinds
Of webs or nests represent so many
stages of development. This natural
list is of opinion that at the beginning
the only kind of web that any spider
knew how to spin was simple cocoon
intended to protect it's eggs. Then a
web for the protection of the spider
itself from its enemies was woven
around the cocoon. This web had an
opening for ingress and egress, and
such webs, intended for use only dur
ing the time that the eggs are hatch
Ing are still spun by some species of
spiders.
The next step was thA development
of snare. 1t has been suggested that
this may have resulted from the acct
dental spinning of threads over and
around the opening Of tubular re-
treat surrounding a cocoon. This was
further developed in the outspread net
of the house spider, and it reached its
highest form when the garden spider
learned to construct its beautifully
radiated web.
In all this there may be discerned
some resemblance to the progress of
architecture among men. The earliest
representatives of the human race
were content to dwell In caves and
rudely constructed huts. Then more
elaborate dwelling places and build
ings intended for other purposes were
constructed until, by successive steps.
advancing as has the spider we have
arrived at the temples. palaces and
houses of civilized life.-St. Louis Re-
public.