SOMETHING ABOUT SPIDERS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1305, 16 February 1883, Page 3

SOMETHING ABOUT SPIDERS.

(Philadelphia Pre§s.) The destruction of insects by spiders js enormous, o I have ccptcd 25,0 insects, small and great, hanging en-, tangled in one orb web, In one net in Jfoirmouth. Park I counted thirty-eight mosquitioes; in another, hung under a Mdfie ftt Anbury park, and put of feacj), there must have been two p? tjpe times th,atmany. Green jieaded flies by tho legion haye been seen in webs that fitirly enclose the boat house at Atlantic City and Cape May. fhe very sniall spiders prey upon microscopic insects, like gnats and devour ffiyriads, A' glance at the fields, baßhes and trees on a dewy morning in. geptembor' w|ll reveal .ipumerabje, fflujtjtgdea of webs.spread over the. Ipdsgape, all occupied, by spiders of' YUrious ages si?es and families, a,nd a]j twsy destroying ; th.e insects pests of WW-

I , There are several species of spiders, ;,;.drifted intptwo olasses, tliesedentary f: And the wandering spiders, To the

ft -firstclass-belongthe'orb'weavers, whc t rdake a circular web; the line weavers, * whose web- is labyrinthiah j the till ~. weaver, who hang their nests or walls 2 onrocks or brandies of. trees, and th< 9 tunnel weavers,, who live in tunnels cut > into the earth and haviug automatic . doors ingeniously contrived. In" the f wanderers are included the centegrades, * whose motions are quick aud vivacious j the laterinthin, who have a queer side- ; wnysmotion,nndthe'salfcigrades, who t jump, and dance and vault, The.doloi raede spider is ii swimmer, and lives on i or under water. She builds her nest '_ on a-decayed branch of a tree or bush, I which she makes into a tent. The I agriopa'fasciapa, or banded spider, is a , silver yellow and black color, . Spiders-are not sociable creatures. They are generally, on the contour, of . solitary habits, and are mostly cannij. bals, eating each other with great gusto. They mate in the spring and , autumn, and mating is often a trying , and dangerous one. They reverse the order of nature in on<s respect, for the males are infinitely inferior in every respect to the females, and the latter are well aware of the fact. Their courtships are scoo.es of violence, and not of love and peace, The lady looks with sublime contempt upon the gentleman, and keeps him at a distance, He can only approach her by stratagem, and sometimes she nips off one of his legs in her anger and casts him adrift a cripple.- I have seen poor fellows who have lost four out of their eight legs, and still they were attracted to I the opposite sox like moths to a candle. A spider will never eat her' own young, but the males will destroy them when they can.: Tho mother either goes away or dies soon after the hatching of her eggs, which number about 100 to each nest, and the little ones are thrown upon the world almost as soon as they see light, Theio are several varieties who carry their eggs in a pouch until they are, hatched. The tube weavers sometimes care for their young until they are able to get about, and I had a brood of about sixty in my yard until the rains destroyed them. Spiders have numerous enemies, and much of their clever nest building is designed for protection against these inroads. Toads and birds destroy them by the thousand, and a little parasite called the ichnumen-a small I fly-lays its eggs in the cocoons of the spider, and when the larva appears it feeds first on the eggs and later on the young spiders. Orb weavers and line weavers desert their eggs when laid, and meet their offspring where they live so long, as strangers. Another bitter enemy of the spider is the mud daubing wasp, which has a process that might be valuable to humanity, if it could be discovered, of keeping a supply of fresh meat. When they capture a spider that is not needed for present use they sting it in such a manner that it lives, but has no power to move until such time as the captor is ready to devour it. It is rather a singular thing that the wasp in its babyhood feeds on meat, but in its maturity eats nothing but the nectar of flowers,