A PLEA FOR THE SPIDER

Evening Star, Issue 17324, 12 April 1920, Page 8

A PLEA FOR THE SPIDER

There is a Scriptural prophecy -which toils of 'a wonderful time when the lio . will lio down with the Jamb. The wa wiil have to be greenly, prepared befo:* this can happen Perhapis the signing c; a truce between woman and the spidf might slightly prepare the wav, for thu enmity of the higher animal towards tk:lowcr in this connection is a thing obvious to be denied. According to C4reek mythology, the god «le?s .Minerva, to reprove Arachne for the prido she took in her prowess as a spinner, transformed the maiden into a spider. That is why the class to which the spider belongs is called Arachnida. The v.ord : "spider." being interpreted, means " spuming one," and is eloseh allied to "spinster." A spinot-Tr in these days brings boiove our mental vision no pichiie 01 an industrials woman bending oyer a loom, but merely that of an unmarried one. a unit of the thousands who form die grer,t army of Australia's so-called ruperfluous women. She may have spun the matrimonial, web badly and so failed to snare her prey, or ehe 'mav have neglected her spinning entirely/ In either caso the world is prone to regard her pity'mnly atiQ! to talk with regret'of her unfulfilled, destiny. ■ The close relations of the wor.!.? "spinster" and "spider" may in simnli rnoasuve have.contributed towards bringing about the disfavor, general until recent times, wfth which a spinster is regarded. Women have lost their right to the title of siiin-trr within its original meaning; snide rs it-tain that right inviolate. Who can Vegan] with anything but admiration the ex:,t:uite skill ;.nd delicacy of the construe; inn of the web of .the common garden spider:' Yet this is but one example of the siiiil of the Arachnids, who carry withiii thern the material so necessary for the construction of a home. With the filmiest of threads one member of the tami.y builds a suspension bridge; another is a skilled engineer, who lines her tunnels with the silk of her body to prevent .1 fall of earth. She constructs ingenious trap doors, . made of silk and e.irtji. by means of which she is able to keep moet of her enemies at bay. One lavs spring traps; another snares her prey in iier web, covering the snare with a. sticky ooze from her bod v. fJhc con-stm-ts a tower, where she "lies la wait, so that her web may ivear the guise of innocence. This tower is connected with the web by a most delicate telegraphic apparatus—worked on the touch svetera—whose silken lines convey to the sensitive feet of the invisible huntress the vibrations caused by the struggles of the emmeshed victim. She sometimes administers an anesthetic to the new addition to her larder to end his web-destroying struggles. Sometimes she swathes' him in a -shroud of silk. An aquatic sister builds a submarine home ; another constructs a raft of twigs, bound together with silk, on which she sails, searching for food. If man's utilitarian capacities were as selfcontained and well developed as those of the spider, what a transformed craft the building trade would be. The spider is a splendid housekeeper, clean in her person and home. Although occasionally guilty of infanticide, she "is n.suu.ly the most model of mothers, guarding carefully arid bravely the ba-r of ex«s which to her the hqpe of future generations. Race preservation is usually her strongest instinct—an instinct regarded as admirable in the human. Whv should it not be similarly regarded 'in the Arachnid ? The evolution of the spider from the egg to tne web-builder is interesting in the extreme. The atom of life which emerges from tne egg comes in the -form of the parent. There is no larval or pupal fancy is small, colorless, - an d surrounded by a tun coating m skin. Until it moults thto skin it remains m the shelter of the cocoon. The growing process, accompanied by periodic moults, continues for several months. _ These months are. not idle one* hither instinctively or imitatively, or both, the rising generation constructs miniature tunnels and trap doors within the maternal ones, thus practising a craft so life 0 " Tile o l ' th t S6 /h ™ <*££ lite, lhe loss ot a leg during the moultKf vonnl bI V U , iflin S Convenience to tne >onns spider, for lt promptly replaces the hmb when next it sheds its Vecentralisation is as important a matter me young Arachnid avoids overcrowding r/l?tf qUent #, oVel ' ty or Unction in a romantic way. Filaments of silk protruding from his body take the place of the win"l nature has denied him and with the hTn of these slender threads he aviates to pasvZhJ?"' n T' the cWes are > he will be better able to carry on the struggle for existence than if he and his numerous brothers and sisters had remained in the vicinity of the spot where they started it* u m ?? eak i 0f kl 'R e of £? fir?* 1 B ? ldCT3 , h a™*>en found at sea, 60 miles from land. It is onlv durino the last few years that the wingless biped man „, his scientifically constructed aeroplane has been able to taste the jovs of H>ing. Tne spider, mounted on a thread of; gossamer, lighter than air, has been aviating for untold centuries. Wrecks of his fairynke airships, floating through' •space, sometimes alight on the surface of our taces; others strew the grass in the early morning. Spenser, in the ' Faeri* Wueen calls them "scorched dew." Spiders in general have been accused of many sins, one of which is cannibalism trom this accusation there is little defence :>ince such cannibalism reduces the number Pi the Arachnids surely this sin should be regarded lightly by their enemies Experiments to make spider silk commercially useful have been tried at different times. It was found that approximately 7,000 spiders were necessary to produce a pound ol silk. It was impossible to segregate th° workers. Since they were far more iWr to devour one another than to spin silk for the benefit of humanity, the scheme had to be abandoned. Matrimony is an uncertain and unhappy state for the malspider, lhe instinct for the procreation ot ins species must indeed be deeply implanted m his nature, otherwise he would long ago have discovered the wisdom of celibacy. Nature has endowed his mate with a strength and size greater than his A female Arachnid never loves her husband; she somethimes tolerates him; she often eats him. Perhaps she does this for the good of the race. Who knows ' There are indictments brought' against her which can to a certain extent lie re-' .iited She is generally accused of a vicious attitude towards humanity, yet in temperate Australia at'any rate, she is usually the mildest of creatures, using her instruments of defence solely as such. The tarantula m particular'is held in dread bv ■a number ol people, who may perhaps regard with equanimity the proximity of a smaller sister of hers, decorated with a tough of scarlet. Yet the little sister is the be feared, and she wears a danger signal. ° i m! 1 j A,,£ "v ll!!ic!s are industrious creatures, skilled workers and vermin destroyers The housewile perhaps sweeping .the ceiling with her long-handled broom, is one of the tew members of society whose attitude of dislike towards them is justified. often shows no moderation m her actions" for she carries the war past the portals of her house into her garden, where, surely.' a web spangled with dew is one of the beautiful things of the world, and it-< maker a creature to be respected. Nature, by protective ' coloration and form, guards the spider r.gainst extinction. Instinct tells the animal how to make Vhfullest use. of this protection. To guard the life she loves, she often feigns death on the approach of danger. Since Xat'urt also sees to it that the - Arachnids do no* greatly overrun the earth, whv should we .be so eager to destroy what "we so little understand?—. Melbourne 'Age.'