NATURE NOTES

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23302, 12 April 1941, Page 7

NATURE NOTES

A SPIDER WITH A TAIL [By L. W. McCASKILL.] June Thomas, of . Birdlings Flat School, has sent a jar with some rambler rose leaves and a number of what she thought were insects. “They were hanging down from the rose head first. They only come out in wet weather.” The fact that the “insects had eight legs and that the body was divided into two parts, not three, showed that they were spiders, but because of the peculiar tail, very unusual spiders. I had not seen any like them before and even now cannot give them a scientific name. Each full-grown spider was only a little more than half an inch long and nearly half of this consisted ot tail. From above it was creamy m colour, with a band of pale green along the'sides. Down the middle of the back was a black hneI do not know if the tail is of any special use. If I annoyed one of the spiders by touching it with a blade of grass it would curl the tail up over its back much in the way an earwig will. But if I kept on annoying it, it ceased to be aggressive and dropped suddenly to the table, breaking the fall by means of the safetybidden among the rose leaves were some egg-bags, which opened and disgorged several young spiders. Their bodies were rounded as in other spiders. I had hoped to keep theni in a cage to see whether they would later develop the tails as they grew, but unfortunately I left the lid off and the whole family escaped. Consequently I am unable to give any more information about this most interesting animal. The Study of Spiders But perhaps my little friehds at Birdlings Flat could make some investigations for tljemselves. So many people have a disgust for, or are afraid of spiders, that we rarely see their life histories and habits studied m schools. . I think Little Miss Muffet had something to do with this. But I would like to point out that the spider did not bite or injure her—it merely sat down beside her. The best way to learn about spiders is to watch them. Some may be watched living naturally in the rooms at home or in school, but others may be studied better in class if they are kept in some handy container A quart fruit jar or jam bottle, a lamp chimney set in a flower-pot of earth, or a boot box with a little earth in it and a piece of glass on top all make useful spider cages. _ Captive spiders must be fed. bo simple experiments can be made to see if they will eat meat or bread crumbs, live or dead flies, caterpillars, and so on. Remember that spiders should have access to water —a damp piece of blotting paper will do. ’ If an orb weaver is kept in captivity it may oblige by making its web in the daytime—usually it makes it at night. This will introduce us to other kinds of webs and also to spider silk. Spider’s Place in Folk-lore Men have made little use of spiders. The crossed lines in surveying instruments are sometimes made of silk and that is about all. But we must not forget that they play a part in the control of insect numbers. Spiders have of course, some interest in our literature and folk-loce. “If you wish to live and thrive. Let the spider run alive.” is a very old saying, suggesting that it is unlucky to kill a spider—it is also a modern belief. And of course it is the spider that has long been used as an example of obtaining prosperity through deceit. “Will you walk into my parlour,” said the spider to the fly. , And was not Queen Mab’s fairy coach in “Romeo and Juliet” made in part of spiders and their products? The wheels of the chariot had "long spinners’ legs” for spokes, and the traces which drew the cart were “of the smallest spider’s web.”