The Spotted Spider is a very beautiful species, often seen among cases of mixed insects, etc., sent from India, It is black, with brown abdomen and numerous yellow spots, and about 1½ inch long; the body is much longer than broad, and the legs are about twice as long as the body.
Attempts have been made to turn spider-silk to commercial purposes, but the great difficulty is that spiders are so voracious and cannibalistic in their propensities that they cannot be kept in captivity, for they will kill and eat each other as long as there are any left, to the very last spider. The silk of some of the large tropical spiders is sometimes strong enough to cause a man much annoyance when riding through the woods, striking up against his face, and sometimes knocking off his hat.
Photo by Highley.
SPANISH TARANTULA.
So called because the bite of an Italian species was supposed to produce a fit of melancholia, which could only be cured by the tune known as the "tarentella."
The last section includes the Mites and Ticks, most of which are small or microscopic. The whole body forms one round or oval mass, with scattered hairs, and eight legs, though most mites have only six legs when young, while the Plant-mites have only four. The largest mites are those called Ticks. There are one or two small British species which are sometimes sufficiently troublesome; but in many warm countries they are a far more serious nuisance, lurking on the herbage, and fixing their proboscis in the skin of any passing man or animal, and retaining their hold till they are gorged with blood, and allow themselves to drop off by their own weight.
Among the smaller mites some species are parasitic on warm-blooded animals, causing itch, mange, and other diseases; while many infest insects, especially bumble-bees and dung-beetles. These are of considerable size for mites; and there are other bright scarlet species which are sometimes found on saw-flies, dragon-flies, etc. Many feed on decaying animal or vegetable matter, such as the Cheese-mite and the Sugar-mite, the former being a very familiar and interesting microscopic object; and others, again, are very destructive to plants, like the small scarlet mite known in greenhouses as the Red Spider.
Among the plant-feeding mites are the four-legged Gall-mites, which produce galls or other excrescences on the plants which they infest.
Mites are probably almost as varied in their forms and habits and as interesting objects of study as insects or spiders; but the group is somewhat neglected by naturalists, owing to the small size of most of the species, and the consequent difficulty of collecting and preserving them.