File:Annual report of the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario, 1899 (1900) (19176821698).jpg

Identifier: annualreportoffr1899frui
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors: Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario
Subjects: Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario; Fruit-culture; Fruit-culture
Publisher: Ontario Dept. of Agriculture, (Warcick Bros.
Contributing Library: Brock University
Digitizing Sponsor: Brock University - University of Toronto Libraries

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1899] ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 93 pass to new hunting-grounds. The French call such threads fils de la Vierge. Some- times the gossamer spider secures its thread and then spreads its limbs, and trusts itself to the summer air—the thread lengthening as it goes. Such spiders have been seen to alight on the topmost steeple of York Minster.* But the most remarkable of the weav- ing spiders is, I think, Argyroneta aqua- tica. This creature forms its web below the surface of the water. It shuns stag- nant pools and rapid streams, but frequents deep ditches in which there is a gentle cur- rent. First it spreads its stays frpm one aquatic plant to another till sufficient anchorage is secured. Then from these it raises a closely-woven air and water •tight dome, like the half of an egg-shell. Its next task is to supply ttis habitation with air, and to expel the water. Its proceedings for this purpose seem almost miraculous. It rises to the surface, throws itself over with a sudden jerk, and entraps, with a film of web guided by its hindmost legs, a globule of air about the size of a buck-shot. With this it scuttles down to its habitation, and dives beneath it. It then sets free its globule of air which rises to the top of the dome, and displaces some of the water. Repeated efforts fully accomplish its work ; and the spider has then an elegant, comfortable and secure dwelling-place. In it it lays its eggs, enclosing them in a cocoon or sack. Occasionally it makes an expedition for food, or to renew the air in its habitation. On the approach of winter it becomes torpid, and in this condition it remains till spring. As a boy, in one of the "Home Counties " in England, 1 often sat by a sluggish stream, and watched these spiders at their work.
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The domestic spider (Clubiona domestica) is not a pleasant object. Its web is untidy, and its own appearance disgusting, but it intru- des everywhere. It " layeth hold with its hands, and is in kings' palaces." Among remarkable spiders the My gales or Bird spiders hold the first place. Between thirty and forty kinds of them are known. The largest of them have a length of body of two inches and a half, and, when their legs are spread, measure eight inches from claw to claw. My gale fasciata of Ceylon, Mygale maculata of South America and My gale Blondii of the West Indies are among the giants. (Fig. 57. Mygale Hentzii of Texas). Some of the Mygales are known as "Trap-door Spiders" They form tunnels in the earth everal inches deep, and beautifully ormed. The walls are hard and

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