The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-01-07


 ..Hullo. Uncle. Where have you turned up # from?" Keith had not his eccentric relative s'fve just landed from Java, my boy.' Horni- man beamed through his archaic spectac1es. N ''The trip has cost fortune. But I'd have gone on, into bankruptcy. if need be, to get what I've S What have you got?" Keith quered. Old Horniman put his hand in his pocket, and he drew forth a largsh oblong box with a glass lid. He put it on the table reverently. Iook in t tthis," he whispered. F. $S Keith looked and at first saw nothing particu- s'Flarly notable. rather thick sheet, of fmy stuff - silvery and semtrans1ucent - stretched other It resembled spiders web but was thicker and frmer-looking. Its color, though whitish, casionally changed, irdescently like pale shot silk ran across the box-a creature about the size of Albert nut; and, in fact, fantastically nutlike in clawed legs. Keith withdrew his gaze hastily.
 "A spider?" he asked They look weird beasts. suraIist has ever caught before-and T. have taught five. Of course we knew of their existence z title beggars themselves could never be netted Looped up in this box they can't show their paces, but in the open they move like e. slightnnga Theyys
 What's the spider caIled?" asked Keith 2
 'It isn't called anything in English yet, ,butstr win be called the Horhim Spider after it's. dis
 sWhat does the Horniman Spider eat?"
 t<FIies, bees-anythfng it can catch which has blood to suck. The web is tough that it snare bird in it-and the bird is shriveled skin with nothing but bones inside, two minutes after ~ards' azrs14s tet tM k.f@s
 sNasty beasts" said Keith.
 sNasty? Not at all." His uncle smiled indulg- ently They'd be nasty, though if they were al- lowed to breed without check. You've heard about the fecundity of insects, dare say?A The ,Horni- nan Spider is a regular record beater A single Horniman lays thirtys thousandb female eggs month and the eggs hatch in twenty-four hours. Think of each of those thirty thousand laying mother thirty thousand, and tell me what would aappen in six months if one spider started to populate this any other country, eh? But has provided for the possible deletion of Java " a plague of Hornimans.s Theresa bird there alled the Hammerbi11. that lives Hornimans. knack of catching HorniInans, and digesting them when caught and it's wings are strong that it IS common in Java as sparrows in England-other- wise Java would be- iT Ia bad way I brought 7ammerbil home part of the way, but it died on he voyage I've preserved it's, skin, though, and I'll show it you some day; and you'll be aston ished at the extraordnar strength of it's bill and of the muscles of it's wings
 Keith was not much interested. Didn't you have to feed your HaInmerbill'so son these precious Hornimans?" he suggested vaguely.
 bits of dried meat if they can't get their usual spider diet-but they won't touch meat if there's spider to be had
 Keith glanced at his watch. "Tm afraid must be on ought to be at my desk by Take care you don't lose the spiders!"
 Work at the Morning News office had been irk- somes and Keith often cast longing glance at the clock, whose fingers crawled so slowly toward mid night. He therefore groaned audibly when sage came up from the editors room to say that he meant an overtime job.%
 You know oldsHorniman, the naturalist? ?'s asked. the editor. as Keith entered his room. s
 Indeed! I've bad .news.for you, then He was run over and killed in Knightsbridge this afternoon first. so the story of his death has only just reached us-"