Water spider

“ 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 ”

“ Several spiders have taken to a more or less aquatic life. One of these—the raft-spider—makes, as its name implies, a sort of raft of dry leaves, sticks, etc., which it fastens together by means of its web, and then launches itself on the water, where it is blown about as the wind listeth. When an aquatic insect comes to the surface of the stream, or when a moth or fly falls into it, the spider runs along the water, and seizes it, after which it returns to its raft ”

“ The insects that frequent the waters, require predaceous animals to keep them within due limits, as well as those that inhabit the earth; and the water-spider (Argyroneta aquatica) is one of the most remarkable upon whom that office is devolved. To this end, her instinct instructs her to fabricate a kind of diving-bell in the bosom of that element. She usually selects still waters for this purpose. Her house is an oval cocoon, filled with air, and lined with silk, from which threads issue in every direction, and are fastened to the surrounding plants. ”

“ However, many spiders do run along on the surface of the water, and you know there is one, the great water-spider, that [Pg 130] lives habitually in it. Some years ago I had one of these water-spiders in a glass vessel of water, and saw it spin its curious dome-shaped web which it attached to the sides of the glass and some weeds. ”

“ The Hunters—they live in crevices of walls and houses, and have their name because they wander about constantly, ready to steal upon any insect which may come in their way; the Vagrants, who, though they will run to catch their prey when it is in sight, lie in wait for it, rolled up in a leaf, or hiding at the bottom of a flower, just where the flies are sure to come for honey; the Water-spiders—they manage to live under water in a nest so nearly made of air, though in the midst of the water, that this spider has been looked upon as the inventor of the diving-bell. ”

“ The writer has seen one of these spiders spin so many webs across the stems of water plants in a limited space that not only the small water-shrimps and larvae, but even a young fish were entangled. The other and more artistic means of gathering air employed by the spider is to catch a bubble on the surface and swim down below with it. The bubble is then let go into a bell woven under some plant, into which many other bubbles have been drawn. In this diving-bell the eggs are laid and the young hatched, under the constant watch of the old spider. ”

“ Suddenly the long black legs of the spider emerged from the water, and the hinder ones reached out and fastened upon the irregularities of the sides of the ditch. The spider commenced tugging at his prize in order to land it. The observer ran to the nearest house for a wide-mouthed bottle, leaving his friend to watch the struggle. During an interval of six or eight minutes' absence the spider had drawn the fish entirely out of the water ”

“ On every sunny morning monster spiders ran out from the holes and angles of the weir-frame, and spun webs across and across the straddling iron legs below the footbridge, right down to the lowered surface of the water, which had so sunk that each spider had at least four feet more of web than he could have reckoned upon before and waxed fat on the produce of the added superficies of enmeshed and immolated flies. ”

“ The Diving Spiders are amusing, and should be kept in plenty in large jars, well stocked with healthy weed; and the curious Raft Spider may also be preserved in a shallow vessel, closely covered with gauze. Aquatic Spiders are most abundant in clear brooks and ditches [113] near rivers; the small tributaries of the Lea, and the dykes that abound in the marshes at Tottenham, supply me with specimens whenever I seek them. ”

“ Every one must have noticed that orb-webs frequently bridge over gulfs that are clearly quite impassable to the spider in the ordinary way. They often span streams—and Epeirid spiders cannot swim—or they are stretched between objects unattainable from each other on foot except by a very long and roundabout journey. When this is the case, the animal has had recourse to the aid of the wind. A spider of this family placed on a stick standing upright in a vessel of water is helpless to escape if the experiment be tried in a room free from draughts. ”

“ It can easily be understood that a spider would not find any difficulty in breathing under water, inasmuch as they are provided with gills. But the diving-spider is not content, as frogs are, with the air furnished by the water, but independently carries down a supply with her to her sub-marine territories. This spider, which is constantly found in the neighborhood of London, does not relish stagnant water, preferring slow-running streams, where she lives in her diving-bell, which shines like a globe of silver. ”

“ When a fly is fast in a web, he hums loud from fear.
The spider will eat dead birds. One kind of spider kills small birds to eat.
There is a spider that lives on water. He knows how to build a raft.
He takes grass and bits of stick and ties them up with his silk. On this raft he sails out to catch flies and bugs that skim over the water.
There is a spider that lives in the water. She can dive. Her nest is like a ball. It shines like silver. Her web is so thick [Pg 62] that it does not get wet. Her velvet coat keeps her as dry as a fur coat. Her eggs are of the color of gold. ”

“ Menge’s Lebensweise der Arachniden in “Schriften der Naturforchenden Gesellschaft in Danzig,” 1843, goes over the whole subject, and is particularly useful on the sexual habits. The same author continues the subject in “Preussische Spinnen,” published by the same society, beginning in 1866, and not yet finished. The habits of the water-spider are described by Mr. Bell in “Journal of the Linnæan Society,” 1857. The trap-door spiders and their habits are described by J. T. Moggridge in “Harvesting Ants and Trap-door Spiders,” published by L. Reeve & Co., London, 1873, and Supplement, 1874. ”

“ This kind of spider, or an allied species, captures large butterflies in the tropical woods by hanging strong silken noozes from branches of trees, and they have been seen to kill small birds by this method. One of our British spiders lives under water in a dome-like cell of silk, which is filled with air like a diving-bell by the spider carrying down successive globules of air between its legs, which it liberates under the dome until it is filled ”

“ But the dangers of moulting, though not negligible, are insignificant beside others to which the spider is exposed during its later stages, nor is a prolonged dearth of food necessarily fatal, for, as we have seen, a spider can fast for an astonishing time and yet retain its health if it has a fair supply of water. ”

“ There is, then, in many of our lakes, ponds and slow-flowing rivers with a weedy bed, a spider which has entirely taken to a water life, and for which it is useless to search on land. It is a docile captive, and consequently a favourite subject for transference to an aquarium, where its habits can be observed at leisure. ”

“ Fill any vessel—a basin or a bath—with water and arrange an upright post in the middle, placing a spider upon it. If the air in the room is absolutely still the captive is powerless to escape, but if draughts are present it will sooner or later disappear; and it accomplishes this feat by emitting a thread which, caught by the air-current, is drawn out from its spinnerets till it by and by becomes entangled in the surrounding furniture. ”

“ These great spiders of the tropics hunt for prey in much the same way. Only instead of catching flies on walls they prowl [391] about the branches of trees in search of small birds, springing upon them when they are roosting at night, and killing them almost immediately by a smart bite from their venomous fangs. These spiders, of course, are very large. Indeed, the body of a full-grown bird-spider is as big as a man's fist, while its great hairy legs cover nearly a square foot of ground when they are fully spread out. ”

“ Many spiders spin webs to capture their prey. However spiders also have other means of capturing their prey. Some spiders spit a sticky web onto their prey. Others live in burrows with trapdoors. Whenever they feel hungry they come out and catch an unsuspecting insect. One species attaches a sticky drop to one end of its silken thread and holds it with its first three pairs of legs. When an insect passes by, the spider waves the thread at the insect and ropes it in, as it were.
Some spiders sit on flowers and catch insects that come to collect nectar. ”

“ There is another class of spiders who have no stuff in them wherewith to make webs; they, therefore, wander about, looking out for food provided by the toil of their neighbours. Whenever they come to the web of a smaller spider, whose larder seems well supplied, they rush upon his domain—pursue him to his hole—eat him up if they can—reject him if he is too tough for their maws, and quietly possess themselves of all the legs and wings they find dangling in his meshes: these spiders I call enemies—the world calls them lawyers!"
Philip laughed: "And who are the first class of spiders?" ”

“ Even though it should be adhering to the very edge of its web, the insect always runs instantly to the middle, where it can most effectually shake the web, and so successfully entangle its prey. When the web is torn, the spider immediately sets about repairing it, and that so neatly, that nothing like patching can ever be seen. The spider lies in wait even for the young of 248 the lizard, and after enveloping the head of the animal, bites its lips; a sight by no means unworthy of the amphitheatre itself, when it is one’s good fortune to witness it. ”

“ Some insects remain under ground part of their life, but quit that situation after their change; as do some caterpillars, many of the coleoptera class, &c. There are some species of spiders, which form habitations in sand; one of which makes a hole in the sand, lining it with a kind of silk, to prevent its crumbling away; this spider generally keeps on the watch near the mouth of the hole, and, if a fly approach, runs at it with such velocity, as seldom to fail in its attempt of seizing the little animal, which is immediately conveyed to the den of the spider. ”

“ His food makes the glue that makes the web. Spiders work hard. So they must eat much.
“But they bite.” They will not bite you if you do not hurt them. If they do, the bite will do you no harm. They bite insects to kill them.
[Pg 61]
Do you not eat fish, meat, and birds? Who kills this food for you?
“But the spider is not pretty.” True, his shape is not pretty, nor are his long hairy legs pretty. Just see his fine black or gold coat!
If he is not pretty, he is wise and busy. Webs are very pretty, if spiders are not.
Spiders eat flies and all kinds of small bugs. ”

“ Her webs are often destroyed by rain or wind, or broken by some large creature like a bee or a wasp getting entangled in one; but the patient worker is not so discouraged as to give up. She patiently fasts, until the damage is repaired. And spiders seem to be weather prophets, for it has been stated that when it threatens to become wet and stormy, the outdoor spider will make the threads which support its net short, but if they expect finer, settled weather, these will be long. ”

“ Its web, which is generally placed among the great leaves of the common agave, is sometimes strengthened near the centre by a pair or even four zigzag ribbons, which connect two adjoining rays. When any large insect, as a grasshopper or wasp, is caught, the spider, by a dexterous movement, makes it revolve very rapidly, and at the same time emitting a band of threads from its spinners, soon envelops its prey in a case like the cocoon of a silkworm. The spider now examines the powerless victim, and gives the fatal bite on the hinder part of its thorax ”

“ In shape it is like a ball, or a horn, or a basket. Each kind of spider makes its web in the shape it likes best. In the nest the spider lays her eggs in a silk ball. The eggs, at first, are very soft. After a time they grow harder.
More than two spiders never live in a nest. Often a spider lives all alone. Spiders are often apt to bite off each other’s legs. A spider can live and run when half its legs are gone. But it can get a fine new leg as a crab can. ”

“ In 1832, aboard the Beagle, at the mouth of La Plata River, 60 miles from land, Darwin saw an enormous number of spiders, of the kind usually known as "gossamer" spiders, little aeronauts that cast out filaments by which the wind carries them.
It's difficult to express that silky substances that have fallen to this earth were not spider webs. My own acceptance is that spider webs are the merger; that there have been falls of an externally derived silky substance, and also of the webs, or strands, rather, of aeronautic spiders indigenous to this earth ”