There are few things better suited to remove the disgust into which young people are betrayed on the view of some natural objects, than this of the spider. They will find that the most despised creature may become a subject of admiration, and be selected by the naturalist to exhibit the marvellous works of the creation. The terms given to these insects, lead us to expect interesting particulars concerning them, since they have been divided into vagrants, hunters, swimmers, and water spiders, sedentary, and mason-spiders; thus evincing a variety in their condition, activity, and mode of life; and we cannot be surprised to find them varying in the performance of their vital functions (as, for example, in their mode of breathing), as well as in their extremities and instruments. Of these instruments the most striking is the apparatus for spinning and weaving, by which they not only fabricate webs to entangle their prey, but form cells for their residence and concealment; sometimes living in the ground, sometimes under water, yet breathing the atmosphere. Corresponding with their very singular organisation are their instincts. We are familiar with the watchfulness and voracity of some spiders, when their prey is indicated by the vibration of the cords of their net-work. Others have the eye and disposition of the lynx or tiger, and after couching in concealment, leap upon their victims. Some conceal themselves under a silken hood or tube, six eyes only projecting. Some bore a hole in the earth, and line it as finely as if it were done with the trowel and mortar, and then hang it with delicate curtains. A very extraordinary degree of contrivance is exhibited in the trap-door spider. This door, from which it derives its name, has a frame and hinge on the mouth of the cell, and is so provided that the claw of the spider can lay hold of it, and whether she enters or goes out, says Mr. Kirby, the door shuts of itself. But the water-spider has a domicile more curious still: it is under water, with an opening at the lower part for her exit and entrance; and although this cell be under water, it contains air like a diving-bell, so that the spider breathes the atmosphere. The air is renewed in the cell in a manner not easily explained. The spider comes to the surface; a bubble of air is attracted to its body; with this air she descends, and gets under her cell, when the air is disengaged and rises into the cell; and thus, though under water, she lives in the air. There must be some peculiar property of the surface of this creature by which she can move in the water surrounded with an atmosphere, and live under the water breathing the air.
"The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in king's palaces."—Proverbs xxx.
Fig. 72.—WEB OF THE GEOMETRICAL SPIDER.
The chief instrument by which the spider performs these wonders is the spinning apparatus. The matter from which the threads are spun is the liquid contained in cells; the ducts from these cells open upon little projecting teats, and the atmosphere has so immediate an effect upon this liquid, that upon exposure to it the secretion becomes a tough and strong thread. Twenty-four of these fine strands form together a thread of the thickness of that of the silk-worm. We are assured that there are three different sorts of material thus produced, which are indeed required for the various purposes to which they are applied—as, for example, to mix up with the earth to form the cells; to line these cells as with fine cotton; to make light and floating threads by which they may be conveyed through the air, as well as those meshes which are so geometrically and correctly formed to entrap their prey.—Note by Lord Brougham to Paley's Natural Theology.
"For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills."—Psalm l.