THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 1682, 16 February 1884, Page 27

THE NATURALIST.

I How I Watched a Spider. Some time ago I -was fortunate enough to capture an unusually large specimen of the common house- spider tribe, and placing her under a common glass beaker, determined to study her habits in the prison in which she was confined. To atone in some way for the liberty of which 1 had deprived her, I resolved to supply plenty of food, and proceeded at once in purbuit of flies in a garden at the rear of the hou<ie. I found some in- an ivied wall which had afforded th :m shelter aud protection from tho nipping winds of the spring, where halfdrowsily, half dreamingly perched on the upper surface of a glisteuiug leaf, they, basked in the reviving rays of an evening sun ; and plucking one from a leaf, I soon after introduced it into tho spider's prison chamber. The spider, apparently nothing grieved at her confinement, gave chase to the fly, which was enabled by the use of its wings to soar far above her reach. Another fly and yet another eluded her in the same way, and walked anxiously around and around the upper walls, and on, or rather under, the ceiling of their prison, but still far above the "reach of the 1 spider. Tha beaker was of small size, and not more than three inches high ; and with three flies within three inches of her I felt sure the spider would not die of starvation, and that the capture of the flies was but the work of time. By a very strange coincidence, tho flies, by occupying such a position, gave me an opportunity of observing the tactics adopted by the spider in laj ing the foundation of its web under exceptional circumstanocs. It is generally believed by naturalists that the spider when it wishes to lay the foundation of a web seeks some favourable position, and unfolding a thread from its Fpinnerets, leaves •to the wind, the task of fixing it to somo terrestrial object. As soon as the toundation*thread3 are -fixed, the completion of the web is easily accomplished. In the open air this is probably so, but underneath my beaker no aerial currents could possibly exist. The spouted mouth afforded •an opportunity for tho ingress and egress of air, but even this small opening had to be contracted to prevent the escape of the flies. Nd current entering there could possibly lift the spider's web to the ceiling. The only other possible source from which an aerial current could proceed was the wings of the flie3 ; but from the ceiling the flies could only cause by the use of their wings a downward current, which might possibly counteract the effect ol any currents from the opening below, and would certainly increase the difficulty of fixing a thread by means of an upward aerial current. Be this as it may, howevor, it was certain that on this occasion a web had to be made under exceptional circumstances, aud practically without the aids of laying the foundations of which spiders are said by naturalists to avail themselves largely, ,The spider made some attempts to climb up the glass sides of the beaker, but was unable to succeed ; and the flies still clinging round tho top, it soon became evident to her that in order to reach them the construction of a ladder was a work of necessity. After soveral hours' watching aud waiting night at length came, and the spider having made no preparations for an ascent, I concluded that 1 might with safety forego my observations till the morrow. To lay very great suprisp, however, no less than tares throads were securely fixed near tho centre of the ceiling, and seyural in the middle of o»e side, on the following morning. Thi 3 se latter gave the only probable key to the mode of formation. Her long legs enabled her to reach far up the side of the beaker, and hero she probably fixed a few threads which were afterwards used as supports to enable her to reach tho top. It need hardly be said that I wa3 very mu.ch disappointed, and felt disposed to upbraid myself for not having watched through tho night ; but I made the best of it, and continued my observations. Apparently the spider had only begun her work a little before, for only three threads were at the top, and the flies were still alive, continuing to elude their pursuer, which feared t© tryst the yet fragile web to the strain of a contest. She now com menced to coyer with web the layer of paper on which the beaker stood,' and carefully closed the tiny opening caused by the spouted mouth •of the' beaker. By degrees she rose higher, and soon formed near the bottom a regular meshwork of web. ' The flies, in their attempts to get out through the little orifice, Were soon hnlplessly entangled in this web, and the spider had her' first moal.' .Alter a few days tho web was complete, aiid when finished presented the appearance of a cone whose base was limited by tho circumference of the beaker, whose apex was fixed' to the centre of the prison ceiling, and whose sides were bound to the sides of the beaker by three bands of attachment near the middle. The spider seemed now to be quite at home, and so far as could bo observed nothing the worse for her confinement. She had plenty of food— more, perhaps, than she could havo procured afc this season had she had liberty ; and though she sometimes • had sohir long chased after flies, always managed to kill them in the end. >. , . > • „ i, 1 Once my attempts wore very nearly foiled by the kind-heartedness of a lady, who in my absence lifted the prison and 'sut the captive rreo. After a vigorous «earch in the room (tor I knew few ladies would have tho courage to handle such a monster for the purpose of taking it out3idc) I succeeded in recapturing it ; and not desiring the recurrence of thismisadventure, affixed to the beaker a label bearing the words " Please do not touch." This earnest appeal saved me from future annoyances, and my observations were continued unbroken, forthwith..

I was now compelled to take a journey, and, "unwilling to leave the spider behind, packed her away, shut up in her crystal prison, and after five days' close confinement shn seemed to suffer nothing for want of fresh air. I had now more leisure and better opportunities for feeding the captive ; the sun being warmer, brought forth an abundance of flies. I have seen her kill as many as eight large flies in an afternoon, and have come to the conclusion that, like many beasts and birds ot prey, even when satisfied with food the spider fs not satiated with slaughter. Dead flies Were a 8 welcome to her as live ones, though ehe did not (so far as my observations went) care to feed a second time on long-dead flies so long as live ones were supplied to her. She would invariably kill, but not eat, other epiders ; and owing to their agility it w,as often a long task to catch them. One day she remained, suspended half-way up the web at a part which waa very thick, and no inducements I could offer— not even ihe introduction of fat, tempting flies— could remove her from that spot. For hours she remained motionless, and I feared she must be dying. Presently, however, she appeared very energetic, and tapping with the hinder part of tier body the surface of the web, -was evidently engaged in a work of importance. • She moved about, working as in a circle ; and, looking closely, I saw the part of the web on which she was working with her spinnerets gradually asßume a flocky appearance. She worked unceasingly for about ah hour, and when a sufficient quantity of fresh web had been spread on this patch, rested for a few minutes. I afterwards found on this patch a cluster of .eggs, which adhered firmly to the fresh web, And which the spider at once proceeded to cover up with more web, crossing and recrossing the threads in a most scientific manner. This heavy task over, the spider killed her prey and lived as befoie. At intervals, a second and third bag of eggs were deposited on other parts of the web in exactly the same manner. " . The spider now undertook the return journey with me, being, as before, for five days without air or food. The first batch of young spiders appeared after an incubation period of about seven weeks'. Returned to London, my flupply of flies considerably diminished, and, aoon after the young spiders began 'to cravW about, the mother died, having lived with me for upwards of three months.— Cassell s Magazine. , ' .