NEW PARASITE OF THE SPIDER IN CEYLON.

Northern Advocate, 8 December 1888, Page 3

NEW PARASITE OF THE SPIDER IN CEYLON.

L\ July last, 1888, Mr E. Ernest Green, the Pundiloyn (Ceylon) naturalist, has described and figured a new ichneuuionid parasite of the spider. This insect lays an egg on the upper snrface of the spider's abdomen, to which it attaches it by irtenrts of a strong thread, and the maggot batched from the egg eventually destroys its victim by the absoiption of its life juices Ferocious and unrelenting as the s])ider is towards such unfortunate insects as happen to come within its power, it is nevertheless endowed with love for its young, and does not fail fo> protect them in danger even at the risk of its own life ; but here its family sympathies seem to end, they certainly do not extend to its male partner. The courtship of n female spider must undoubtedly he anything but unmixed, bliss, as not only have the first advances to be made with extreme caution, in fear and trembling, and a precipitate retreat frequently resorted to to saver-ther-admirer's life, but bis ultimate^ des&nction invariably follows his peiseverancp. The bridal feast is furnished from the life blood of the expiring bridegroom. The proceeding seems unnaturally ferocious, but it is not exceptional, pome species of the- mantis, the male of wbiclt is a much smaller and weaker insect than the female, act in a similar manner, and there are not wanting examples of ferocity,. although not carried to so great a length, even in the higher types of the animal -kingdom, — _ What we would seem called upon to admire in the present caae. is the'indomptabje courage of. a. little fragile ify, whose solicitude for the future welfare of its young, sustains it in fixing its egg oil tll6 iibdomeu of so. terrible un animal as the spider, and in performing this feat almost within reach of its very jaws. "What an extraordinary instinct tltat leaches this little insect to seek sustumuico for its young iv such a position ! What a fearful viciuily for the larva to repose in ! But this is by no; means a]\ tliflt bus to be told. Certain iehneumonid parasites have long been known to prt-y it a similar manner upon the spiders of Europe, and to lay their eggs'iii.flpiders' nests, but Mr Green's recent observations prove that this fly selects for -its victim the female spider only a.n£l stfeuis as if an unerring instinct taught it. that the male •pider was doomed to an early death, and that on the abdomen of the feinule, beyond her deadly grasp alone, were her young ones safe. It would indeed be most interesting were it possible for us to discover whether this knowledge of the fly was mere indtiuct (so called) or the consecpuense of observation, or of adverse experience in the past. Trulj', Mau, reasoning tit every step he treads, mistakes his way, While meaner things, by instinct led, ar« rarely known to stray.