. American spiders and their spinning work. A natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits. Spiders. ENEMIES AND THEIK INFLUENCE. 381 conditions, and many as had been my inducements to do so, an excessive aversion from all Inns had, nevertheless, been instilled into me by my father. This feeling had rooted itself firmly in him on his trav- Goetne gjg through Italy, Franco, and Germany. Although he seldom Waa s spoke in images, and only called them to his aid when he was very cheerful, yet he used often to repeat that he always
. American spiders and their spinning work. A natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits. Spiders. ENEMIES AND THEIK INFLUENCE. 381 conditions, and many as had been my inducements to do so, an excessive aversion from all Inns had, nevertheless, been instilled into me by my father. This feeling had rooted itself firmly in him on his trav- Goetne gjg through Italy, Franco, and Germany. Although he seldom Waa s spoke in images, and only called them to his aid when he was very cheerful, yet he used often to repeat that he always fancied he saw a great cobweb spun across the gate of an Inn so ingeniously that the insects could indeed fly in, but that even the privileged wasp could not fly out again ; But the number of those who, hav- ing observed the scathlcss incursions of "the privileged wasp" into cob- web domains, also know the purpose thereof, is exceedingly small. Yet it is inspired by one of the most common and interesting instincts in the insect world. If we follow the wasp a little space backward from her cobweb raid, we shall see her fluttering over the muddy margin of pond, puddle, or stream. She is seeking mortar, which, gathered between her mandibles, she carries away through the air. Following her flight, we find her engaged upon the broken face of a cliflf, the rugose surface of a wall, oi" the rough boards or beams in angle or cornice of some house, stable, or outbuilding. She carefully spreads her mortar, smooths it, rounds and arches it, until, after many successive visits to the mud bed, she has built a cell about ^i inch long and three-eighths to half an inch thick. (Fig. 823.) The middle of this cell is a hollow cylinder, within which the mother wasp, for such the little ma- son is, deposits a single egg. It is at this point that the raids upon spider webs begin. The egg in course of time is to become a ravenous, flesh eating worm, an arachnophagous la
Size: 1282px × 1950px
Photo credit: © Central Historic Books / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectspiders, bookyear1889
