THE VANISHING SPIDER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2356, 20 April 1899, Page 61

THE VANISHING SPIDER.

(New Orleans Times-Democrat.)

"My friend, the judge," said the isortft crn visitor to Florida, "and I were tread' ing a path along the Indian River, not fa* from Rockledge, Fla., one morning, enjoyJ ing the steady south-east breeze which' rustled the palmetto leaves around as and overhead, and whispered in the sprawling oaks that reached out giant limbs above us. Suddenly the judge stopped and said in a low voice, turning to me as he spoke :' 'Did you ever see a disappearing spider?' I've seen them scuttle away at my approach, if that is what you mean.' " • No ; I mean a spider that melto from sight while you look at him— vanishes from" your sight without leaving his place. If you never did you can see one now, for here is one across the path.' "Pointing to an orange-coloured spot in the middle of a web he suggested that I approach it and threaten it with a small twig which lie handed me. The object looked like a huge drop of something of an intense orange hue in the middle of a curious web. If one will imagine a small filmy hammock hanging perpendicularly ha can form an idea of the web itself. I took tho small stick, my eye intently fixed on the occupant of the web, and approached it. As I menaced it with my stick it seemed suddenly to become several diaphanous individuals lying -one over another. Then the outlines become more and more indistinct until it swiftly faded entirely from view, while some small twigs at either sido were agitated violently. " ' Now, stand perfectly still foi a few minutes and see it reappear,' said the judge. '1 did s6. The agitation or the twigj slowly subsided and my spider came into sight, by a process the reverse of that by which he had melted into nothingness. " ' Wait a bit until he has got over his alarm somewhat, then approach very carefully and examine it,' was my friend's advice. I did bo, getting upon all fours to bring my eyo to the level of the web. Tho spider, I found, had a rather bloate<s body. His long sprawling legs were kg nearly transparent th it I had not been abla to see them at a distance, and they ended in large hooked claws by which lie clung to tho web. The latter was in length about three times its breadth, and was suspended by the upper corners from slender twigs on either side of the iiath, while-, the lower corners were braced by other threads, like the uppei ones, to ofher twigs. " Now, I threatened him again. At once he began to sway himself . backward and forward violently until in a few minutes the web was in violent commotion. As the motion increased the- impression" on the eye changed so rapidly that the mind could mnke.no note of it, and finally 'the place where tho spider had been seemed to have become vacant. '. " ' That,' said the judge, 'is one di (.he curiosities of the Florida woods. The strange habit of this spider is his only protection against being gobbled up by birds., That very brightness of hue which attracts tho insects on which he feeds also makes him conspicuous to the birds which feed upon him. lie is obliged to ham.j his web in an exposed place, becauso che insects ha catches — those ho wishes to catch. I mean — do not frequent the thickets. "When hz sees a bird swooping down upon him hi agitates his web and when the bird gets nearer the quarry has disappeared. It. is his only defence, his sole means a' protection.' "