Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-11-04
SPIDER ESCAPED CAPTURE
Two Birds and Fish Fail to Ensnare
the Wary Eight Legged Insect.

| The bird was very quick. With O
quick unexpected and almost lightning
dart she was in among the branches Of
the willow, and had snapped at the lit
tie dark spider, crawling, crawling,
crawling on the end Of the slender
twig, but the little dark spider wasn't
going to feed tomtits. e...-
| No; he let go and fell through the
sunshine with the shower Of falling
leaves displaced by the passage OF the
bird, and-oh, spider-the CLASSY dark,
sinister surface Of the pond below ac-
knowledged receipt Of the whole lot
with a shake of dappled tiny ripplss
It was almost an II the pond had smil-
ed at the thought Of spider who had
been SO foolish as to drop into water
But It must have been the spider who
smiled really, because when the bird
had flirted round and fiuttered down
to the surface to pick up at her leisure
the spider that had lodged her at first,
she-well she looked foolish.
| There, indeed, were the leaves.
There were the tiny ripples broadening
their smile, and there was, squirming
about, the very young and innocent
caterpillar whom the spider was inter-
viewing on his own account when the
bird came up and upset things; but
there was no spider, nor any signs Of
one.
It was as If he had. without hesita-
tien, calmly sauntered into spookland
-or been sucked under by a fish.
Possibly the bird thought the latter.
Then, as the pond smoothed her face,
one saw that there was movement
among the water plants beneath the
surface, some aquatic haunter of the
shadows was crawling there-calmly,
coolly, quite naturally crawling there.
Then 1t let 60. 1t swan. It's eight
legs padded vigorously. 1t rose strong
ly, quickly, as one who is to the man
ner born. It came to the surface, and
once on the surface 1t revealed itself
the spider!
For a moment he paused, hanging
head down, his abdomen above the sur
face, and a passing late swallow, fly
Ing low, made shift to dip at him. Then
he went down, padding quickly, looking
Just like a silver bead. for his abdomen
was enveloped in an air bubble, which
he kept in place with his hind legs, and
was taking down, apparently, for Won
derful purposes of his own.
Beneath the shadow Of the water
lilly stem he turned and swan up to a
cluster Of weeds, and here stopped at
q web. Bell shaped 1t was, and finely
spun, with the mouth Of the bell point
ing downwards. And up into the mouth
of the bell swan the spider, and stop
ped. Quickly he detached the air bub-
BILE from him with his hind legs, and 1t
fioated to the top Of the web bell and
stopped, held firm by the web root,
and the spider was already away again
padding to the surface, his legs going
like the legs Of shrimp.
A fish shot up out of the depth open
mouthed, missed him by a fraction Of
an inch, and passed, but he did not
seem to care. In few seconds he was
down again with another bubble. which
was released into the web in the same
way, and in a few seconds with anoth-
er and yet others, till the whole struc-
ture was full Of air-was, in fact, a
perfect miniature diving bell.
Then our spider calmly crawled inside
his bell and waited what might befall.
Anon some tiny crawling larva Of
gnat came wriggling along, and in
stantly taking on his abdomen supply
Of air the spider was after 1t, had seiz-
ed 1t and carried 1t back to his strange
lair.
Anon, too, a little midge, falling
upon the inch of light above which
marked the surface was seized by the
spider from below and carried down.
Then, at last, came the chance Of
lifetime. A small water snail. climbing
slowly up the stem Of the water lily,
failed by just the twenty-fifth Of a
second to see the spider creeping steal
thily upon him.
There was a rush, a squirm and in
moment it was all over The snail was
dead.
Today, If you look for the spider in
his open web you will not find him. He
lives now in a castle Of stone cement,
a fortress Of his own conquest, where
he is safe even from the fish. He keeps
1t full of air brought down fresh from
the surface, and he spreads his snare
outside.
That spiders fortress, by the way, Is
the empty shell Of the snail.-Answers.
Washington, October 80: Postmas-
ter General Burleson has decided to
standardize the postal service If possi-