J. H. Emerton

“ A brood of young Epeira may often be seen looking like a ball of wool in the top of a bush, while below them, connected by threads to their roost, are the skins left at their second moult, and farther down, also connected by threads, the cocoon with the first skins. ”

“ The female lies as though dead. In Nephila and Argiope, where the male is very small, he stands on the upper edge of the web while the female is in her usual position in the centre. After feeling the web with his feet for some time, he runs down to the centre so lightly as not to disturb the female, and climbs about over her body for some minutes, in an apparently aimless way. She takes no notice of him at first; but at length, especially if he approach the under side of her abdomen, she turns, and snaps at him with her jaws. ”

“ The Theridiidæ almost all live in the shade, and always upside down in their webs. Some species live always in caves; and one in the deepest part of the Mammoth Cave has no eyes. Some spiders live only on high mountains, never appearing below the tree line. Some species seem to prefer certain kinds of plants. The horizontal branches of spruces, for instance, are particularly convenient for the webs of some species of Theridion. The water-spider, that builds its nest and lives on water-plants, has been already mentioned, and also the Argyrodes, that makes its home in the webs of other spiders. ”

“ Fig. 15.
If let alone, no spiders bite any thing except insects useful for food; but, when attacked and cornered, all species open their jaws, and bite if they can; their ability to do so depending on their size, and the strength of their jaws. Notwithstanding the number of stings and [Pg 34] pimples that are laid to spiders, undoubted cases of their biting the human skin are very rare; and the stories of death, insanity, and lameness from spider-bites, are probably all untrue. ”

“ Some of the mites spin irregular threads on plants, or cocoons for their eggs; and many insects spin cocoons in which to pass through the change from larva to adult. In the spiders the spinning-organs are much more complicated, and used for a greater variety of purposes,—for making egg-cocoons, silk linings to their nests, and nets for catching insects. The spider’s thread differs from that of insects, in being made up of a great number of finer threads laid together while soft enough to unite into one. ”

“ He shows how Nephila plumipes might be raised in large numbers, each spider kept by herself in a wire ring surrounded by water, fed with flies bred for the purpose from old meat, and milked every day of their thread. Each cocoon of this spider contains from five hundred to a thousand eggs. The young live together for two or three weeks, spin a web in common, and eat one another, or any small insects that come in their way. Then they begin to scatter, and each builds her own web ”

“ Spiders in confinement begin at once to spin, and never seem comfortable till they can go all over their box without stepping off their web. The running spiders, that make no other webs, when about to lay their eggs, find or dig out holes in sheltered places, and line them with silk. Species that live under stones or on plants all line [Pg 44] their customary hiding-places with web, to which they hold when at rest. Several of the large running spiders dig holes in sand, and line them with web, so that the sand cannot fall in ”

“ The spinning is commonly helped by the hinder feet, which guide the [Pg 42] thread, and keep it clear of surrounding objects, and even pull it from the spinnerets. This is well seen when an insect has been caught in a web, and the spider is trying to tie it up with threads. She goes as near as she safely can, and draws out a band of fine threads, which she reaches out toward the insect with one of her hind-feet ”

“ Nearly all spiders that make cobwebs live under them, back downward; and many are so formed, that they can hardly walk right side up. The spiders of the genus Linyphia make a flat or curved sheet of web, supported by threads above and below; the spider standing, usually, [Pg 57] underneath in some corner, out of sight. Linyphia Marmorata makes a dome-shaped web, Fig. 25, supported by threads that extend up into the bushes two or three feet. The spider stands under the middle of the dome, where it draws in a small circle of web with its feet. ”

“ The spider climbed up on threads or plants nearly to the surface, and put the end of the abdomen out of water for an instant, and then jerked it under, at the same time crossing the hind-legs quickly over it. She then walked down the plants to her nest, opened her hind-feet, and let the bubble go.
The water-spiders run about on water-plants, and catch the insects [Pg 54] which live among them. They lay their eggs in the nest; and the young come out, and spin little nests of their own, as soon as they are big enough. Their hairs keep the skin from becoming wet as they go through the water ”

“ When the female spider is nearly full grown, there appears a hard, swollen place just in front of the opening of the ovaries, Fig. 1; and, after the last moult, the epigynum is uncovered at this place. The epigynum, Fig. 49, consists of two spermathecæ, E, which connect by two little tubes, H, H, with the oviduct near its mouth, and by two larger tubes, D, with the outside of the spider. The mouths of these larger [Pg 93] tubes are often surrounded by various hard appendages to support and guide the palpal organs when the latter are thrust into them. ”

“ No doubt it occasionally happens, where the female is the larger of the two; but in many species they live together for some time in the same web, or in a nest spun for the purpose; in some cases, before the female has reached the adult state.
LAYING EGGS.
When the eggs are mature, the female proceeds, like the male, to make a little web, and lays the eggs on it. Then she covers them over with [Pg 99] silk, forming a cocoon, in which the young remain till some time after they are hatched. The laying of the eggs is seldom seen; for the spider does it in the night, or in retired places ”

“ The size of the web is usually proportioned to that of the spider; but Epeira displicata, which is quarter of an inch long, makes a web only two or three inches in diameter, on the ends of branches of bushes, where it is shaken about, and sometimes blown to pieces, by the wind. ”

“ The eggs in the cocoon are very liable to be eaten by parasitic insects. Certain wingless Hymenoptera are always hunting around in the [Pg 105] neighborhood of spiders’ nests, and may sometimes be seen trying to stick their ovipositor through a cocoon. If they succeed, their eggs hatch before the spiders, and eat the latter up. Other parasites lay eggs on the backs of young spiders, and the larva lives attached to the outside till it gets nearly as large as the spider itself. ”

“ The markings of this spider are very complicated. The spot on the middle of the front of the abdomen is a very common one, and, in some spiders, extends the whole length of the body. The waved lines on each side are also common, and, in long-bodied spiders, often form two bright-colored stripes, or rows of spots, running nearly straight the whole length of the abdomen. ”

“ The net is now set for use, and she stands holding it till something touches it; then she lets go with her hind-legs, and the net springs forward, bringing more threads into contact with the insect, and sliding the spider along the line toward A. If she thinks it worth while, she draws up another loop, and snaps the web again. When she is satisfied that the insect is [Pg 79] caught, she gathers up part of the web till she comes to him, covers him with silk, and carries him up to her roost.
There are other spiders of this group that make round webs, just like those of the Epeiridæ, Fig. ”

“ The hinder half, the abdomen, contains the intestine, the breathing-organs, the principal circulating-vessels, the organs of reproduction, and the spinning-organs. Connected with the thorax are six pairs of limbs, four pairs of legs, B B B B, a pair of palpi, C, and a pair of mandibles, D. [Pg 13]
Fig. 1.
[Pg 14]
LEGS.
The legs are used chiefly for running, jumping, and climbing; but the front pair serve often as feelers, being held up before the body while the spider walks steadily enough on the other six. One or both of the hinder legs are used to guide the thread in spinning ”

“ Prof. B. G. Wilder has published several papers on the habits of American spiders, the most useful of which are the following: on Nephila plumipes from South Carolina, “Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History,” 1865; Practical Use of Spider’s Silk in “The Galaxy,” July, 1869; Habits of Epeira riparia, Moulting of Nephila plumipes, and Nests of Epeira, Nephila, and Hyptiotes, in “Proceedings of American Association for Advancement of Science,” 1873; the Triangle Spider in “Popular Science Monthly,” 1875. ”

“ A thread soon blows out from the spinnerets, and, if the current of air continues, [Pg 81] spins out to a length of two or three yards, and then offers enough resistance to the wind to carry the spider away with it up into the air. As soon as she is clear, the spider turns around, and grasps the thread with her feet, and seems to be very comfortable and contented till she strikes against something. Sometimes they rise rapidly, and are soon out of sight; at other times blow along just above the ground.
Fig. ”

“ The body is usually very hairy and dark-colored. Most species have only four spinnerets; and one pair of these are long, and are turned up behind the abdomen. [Pg 24] They have four air-sacs under the front of the abdomen, instead of two, as other spiders. Their mandibles are very large, and work up and down, [Pg 25] instead of sidewise. The eyes are collected together on the front of the head. They live only in warm countries. Specimens from South America are exhibited in every natural history museum. Fig. 6 represents Mygale Hentzii, a species living in Arizona and Texas. ”

“ Fig. 67.
As spiders grow larger, they have to moult from time to time. This process is shown by Wilder in Figs. 66, 67; and I have seen the same operation in Argiope. The spider hangs herself by a thread from the spinnerets to the centre of the web. The skin cracks around the thorax, just over the first joints of the legs; and [Pg 112] the top part falls forward, being held only at the front edge. The skin of the abdomen breaks irregularly along the sides and back, and shrinks together in a bunch. ”

“ The simple nests and tubes that have been described are made by spiders, most of which spin no other webs. The larger and better known cobwebs for catching insects are made by comparatively few species. On damp mornings in summer the grass-fields are seen to be half covered with flat webs, from an inch or two to a foot in diameter, which are considered by the weatherwise as signs of a fair day. These webs remain on the grass all the time, but only become visible from a distance when the dew settles on them. Fig. ”

“ Spiders often descend by letting out the thread to which they hang; and are able to control their speed, and to stop the flow of thread, at will. They sometimes hang down by a thread, and allow themselves to be swung by the wind to a considerable distance, letting out the thread when they feel they are going in the right direction. ”

“ The majority of the spiders flying in autumn are the young of several species of Lycosa, that seem to spend the greater part of October and November trying to get as far above ground as possible. The best places to watch them are garden-fences in cities, where they often swarm, and can be more distinctly seen than on bushes. Large numbers can always be seen, for example, on the fences around the Common in Boston, every fine day in autumn, until there has been a long period of cold weather. Other species fly in the early part of summer.
Mr. Blackwall observed in Manchester, Eng., Oct. ”

“ Fig. 15 is the claw still more enlarged, showing a little hole near the point at a, out of which is discharged the secretion of a gland in the head, Fig. 5, n. [Pg 33] The ordinary use of the mandibles is for killing and crushing insects, so that the soft parts can be eaten by the spider; and in this they are aided by the maxillæ, Fig. 1, E. They will sometimes chew an insect for hours, until it becomes a round lump of skin, with all the blood sucked out of it; this is then thrown away, the spider swallowing only such bits as may happen to be sucked in with the liquid portion. ”

“ The running spiders live usually on the ground, often near water, but some kinds in the hottest and dryest places. A few species live near water, and are accustomed to run about on its surface, without becoming wet. ”

“ They are usually darker colored, especially on the head and front part of the body; and [Pg 87] markings which are distinct in the female run together and become darker in the male. In most species these differences are not great; [Pg 88] but in some no one would ever suppose, without other evidence, that the males and females had any relationship to each other. The most extreme cases of this kind are Argiope and Nephila, where the male is about a tenth as large as the female. Fig. 43 represents male and female of Nephila plumipes described by Wilder. ”

“ There is a still more curious use of this method of spinning threads; that is, in flying. Small spiders, especially on fine days in the autumn, get up on the tops of bushes and fences, each apparently anxious to get as high as possible, and there raise themselves up on tiptoe, and turn their bodies up, as in Fig. 40, with their heads toward the wind, and spinnerets open. ”