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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1929-03-28, Page 7MISUNDERSTOOD BUSY SPIDER CHECKS MANY INSECT PESTS He Spine His Web or Trap Instinctively, Without Learning How—Yet He Has the Dawning. of a Mired arta Captures the Moth as It ,Flies By 3, AR`IHUIt `l`I•IOMSON, perlence, without any apprenticeship, Professor of Natural History, Univor- telly of Aberdeen, in the New York Times Few of us are devoted to snakes, few of us dote on centipedes; and one cannot say that there is a strong pre. judice in favor of spiders, Yet spill- ers.are fascinating In their works and ways. We like them almost in spite of themselves. One of the few unwise things that Emerson' did was to describe aaim- proved earth in which, thele should be no spiders.. A. little natural his- tory would soon have convinced him that the world without epiders would be unendurable, for it 10 by means of spiders that the iiweet scourge 1s kopt in cheek; There is an old adage with much truth In it:. without any learning. That is the mystery of instinct, The web le made true to pattern the very first time the spider tries, true to the particular pat- tern of that particular species. It can bo made in the oourse,of an afternoon or in less time, It can be made iu the dark, • In making an ordinary web the spicier first lays the foundation lines, erten four to .number; and these are made particularly strong, for they are used over and over again, Next the spider starts from the middle of the top foundation line and drops to the middle of the lower foundation line, prying oat a line of silk, and pulls that taut. Then it clintbe UP that line, pauses . goy a moment in, the. middle,' begins to pay out another line, walks along the upper foundation line td the 11 you wish to live and thrive, right-hand corner and pulls the third Let the spider run alive. ray taut, Then back again to the cen- tre, down the lower half of the een tral ray. away to the leftliand corner, paying out the lower drag lien and'• tightening it, So it gods on from side to side until the rays of the web are like the spokes of a wheel, Now the spider goes to the centre of the web and with pecular strides swings from. ray to ray, paying out.' what is tailed the primary spiral,, which is not viscid, but is just the scaffolding. When it has completed the primary spire, which binds all the rays together, it starts at the cir• oumierence and with a different kind of swinging 'movement it makes the second spiral, the sticky spiral, the spiral that forms the snare for the insects. tieing very economical, as it makes and completes the secondary spiral it, eats up the primary spiral, the scaffolding that made the second spiral possible. in the malting of au ordinary garden spider's web there are Geese tour chapters: .Laying ole foundation dines, making the rays, making .the primary spiral and mak- ing the 'viscid secondary spiral, An Architect by Instinct Spiders are not insects. They are no nearer to insects than reiftiles are to birds. ' Spiders have uo wings, while almost fill insects have; yet spiders can make aerial journeys on the wings at the wlud, korne.by their silken parachutes: Spiders have no Unless ur aiitellnae, welch alt insects have, yet unless. speak. to one an- other by vibrations They have a sense or touch unexcelled in the whole 'animal kingdom. They have structures that take the place of feel - ere and tiro .exquisite organs of tac- tility. A spider has four par's of legs, while aninsect has three pairs, .At . the end ... the spider's legs are curved toothed claws by which the. spider can Bold oa to anything that has any roughness of surface, A spieler often runs along the ceiling holding on to the plaster with these •claws—a remarkable acrobatic feat, flefylug.gravity. - A Spider's Equipment 'Ilululasucte have -',thee. puiui oi, jaws, spiders have two Pan's," and 111 their mouths is a part like •a •.half- open 'penauite, at the 'base of -W mud 3s 'a poison' gland. Au 'spiders t poisonous, and they pulsou teem vie tims by niiiping taeul Nye tuts Itu.Ls• like weapon, A spider ,.as u waist, suggesting the weld of a wase, a narrow istllinus between head and breast, which are joined in one, and the posterior. body... Through that narrow waist, as narrow often asa wasp's, the food canal, the nerves and the blood -vessel have to pass. All spiders have spinning glands also, from which comes a multiple jet of liquid silk. ' Another peculiarity of spiders. is . '•that they hatch out as fully -formed Young spillers, whereas most of the insects emerge from the egg as .grubs, caterpillars or some other form of larvae. But out of the spider's egg there comes a creature that has simply t0 grow and moult to become a full-sized spider. Just as we cannot understand hive bees without knowing something about wax, orwasps unless we un- derstand the paper of their beautiful hanging houses, so we cannot .under- stand the spider unless we know something about silk, tor all spiders are silk producers. This silk ie a liquid. 1t is exuded from a large number of small glands in the pos. tenor part of the spider's body. It -comes out as a liquid jet, which hardens lnstantaueousiy ,on exposure to air. Out of that liquid silk the spider makes all sorts of contriv- anees. 'It is always paying out a drag line of silk as it moves on difficult journeys. It a spider is creeping along • the ceiling and its footing gives way, instantly it presses its spinning arms against 'the. whitewash and so can sink with dignity -to •-the ground; paying out a rope.•of Bilk. Sometimes . it changes its mind when half -way down and, turns again and climbs up the rope, winding in the silk as it ascends. Every spider has this power • of paying, out a drag line. The drag line is of the same ma- terial as the nest lining. the snare, the web• and the cobweb, which is a low-grade web Without any geo- metrical pattern. We admire the web of a garden spider and wonder how such a beautiful and effective thing could be evolved. When we notice the drag line, the threads about the nest, the tangle of the snare, the un tidy cobweb and the simple -webs, we see by how long a process of evold- tion the orb web has become possible. The drag line is the foundation of all. One use spiders have for their silk is to make a cradle for' the young: They wrap up .the eggs itt a silken bag, a cocoon: The cocoon of an in- sect 15 the enclosure that the larval insect, makes for the time of the great metamorphosis wlien the eaterpiilar changes into a butterfly. But the cocoon of a spider is quite different. It is a silken bag for holding the eggs and by and by the young spiders; Sometimes the threads of sills are used as a parachute by means of which the small spielers are wafted for miles 'through the air. Darwin records in his "Voyage of the Beagle" deep shalt sunk to the ground, lying that the ship's rigging was covered sniboih,' plastered smooth and fitted with little spiders' sixty miles off the WILL a lid with a silken. hinge. All coasts of South America. lheee aer- onauts had been borne on the wind many leagues over the sea before they came to- rest on the. ship. The spider makes its 'web by in. Familiar Leo 'Will Soon Be Heard Say "Hello Folks" HOLD YOUR •ItAlte, LuU I1 leulatti 10 100 Valu ,,,.:. Leo, famous trademark of 111etro.Goldwy0.d'1tydr plctares, has because a familiar movie ug...a 0.....0,01' pic- tures are su'eened. Iris well-known roars, hitherto silent are now being recorded for talking uevlces, so it will be "Soe and bear Loop'• a dome, she lays her eggs and brings up her young. Can one understand anything about the mind of the spider? It is pecu- liarly diflloult tor man, who is a 0000- ture of intelligence, to get psycholo- gically near a Oi'eatUru whose whole lite is dominated u, instinct. Spiders 11101ie thele hOU, t,utr trap-uor,r, tlle11 diving Nell Last= Wl elY• vve uttoW 11.01 u3CaUGe toes U0 it perfectly the very 11101 time, nu0 1115u because of. au".uul' ilU1,. a 11d Laub: it We niter - Atilt there 1Inusr t,osy are 1n the min- ute of their bui,d.11g uperattlUS they are sit0nge.•y 11Urr11L15011, unite Uiillile a dog 01' a eat taut. ap0realato.. t.ltei- ligeutly the relations of things. The spines Is puzzled And uiteu has to be- gin again at- the Uegtuitius, !1111 a (Mild repeating a• piece t',ac it has learned" uy Luce ea0' dues out N'e11 understand, Yet the spider has the dawning o - mind. if you give -it a temptiug 11y that lies boon dipped in turpentine. it eagerly snatches at the food, but soon rejects it, Give It half au hour to forget awl try again with the tur- peutined fly. The instinct is too strong; the- -spider' rushes forward, seizes the prey and rejects it again. Give it an hour and it will repeat the process. But after three or four times no more turpentined flies for that spider. It has mind to the extent that it can profit by ex-. perience. Next. day it will have no. thing to do with flies that look like the turpentiued Iy. It is hard to believe that some 01 the things that spiders do are not actuated by reason. In Queensland, Australia, lives a fine spider -called. the Magnificent=the female is like a hit of rainbow. This spider' makes no web but still has a way of get- ting its food. it lowers itself from a twig on the end of a thread about three inches long, then puts out a short thread about an inch long, with a viscid drop at the end. When a moth comes flying past in the dusk the spider casts for it with the viscid globule and draw@ it in as a fisher- man lands a bass. The trick is so wonderful oue feels it must have a little intelligence behind it. a ,y ., l•i,ga '11 1105185 lt'is made very ...0 ft itt made every day. ..., apart of the uay's routine, ..,..uyLL the foundation' lines are need over and over again. Second., each ami of spider, if it makes a web at all, makes it of a particular pattern.. Every species has its own architec- ture. 'Third, the web is not the prod- uct of 'intelligence—there is no hope in that theory—but is made instinct tively,1 without learning,' without training, though it may be adjusted to difficulties or to situations by .a calico of judgment. In spiders the sexes usually differ greatly to size. Ordinarily the male is a pigmy compared with his mate. The disproportion is almost incred- ible. It is as if a man six feet high were to marry 'a woman the height of a church steeple or'as if a man -neighing 160 pounds were to mate with a woman weighing 200,000 pounds. , in the breeding spazou these pigmy mates, which have no end of pluck, often. meet together 1h little com- panies and fight. They fight lute those birds that used to breed in Britain, the ruffs, Whose mates are called reeves, that ars, still visitors. to.. the Norfolk Broads, The com- bats of the ruffs have often been described, and similar combats occur' among spiders. They light and fight, hour after hour, but at the end there is no wounded warrior. Their duels are like 'those of politicians—most vigorous and spirited, but 00 blooa is drawn, courting Under Difficulties . New Sources of Rubber Located by Expkration "n fl/dad ' ascar The male spider's courting has to be done with care. Be -may show off his good points of color and agility he may dance around his de- sired mate, sometimes a hundred times, at a great rate, or lie may in other ways—for instance, by twirling one of the threads leading to the web on which he Is sitting—indicate his intentions. But the female has a capricious temper, and what begins Playfully and pleasantly often ends in a death when she makes a rush at him. But, while the female spiders are cross-grained as sweethearts, they are devoted as mothers, unsurpassed in care for the young. The eggs, wrapped up in beautiful silken bags, are hidden under - stones or among the twigs of a bush, or under inose bark. Sometimes the mother spider is still more careful and carries her cocoon about' with her, holding it firmly and binding it'to -her body with silken threads. If you take away the silken cocoon, about the size of a pill, from the mother, and put it at a slight distance, you may' see her search about She is very short-sighted; she gropes and feels for the lost cocoon If you give it to her. again, she' trundles it under her body and off site goes. One mother spider makes a trap- door nest, a wonderful contrivance common in the south.' of France, a W4.Ailtrgton — Twenty -Lard) plants bef....ea Lu ue potential 5001'Oes of rub• her ora among •uotanical specimens 1..ucu ur.. 4101005 n'. Swingle of the V.0.. Department at Agriculture re- eet..y uluug"t from ilxauttgasear. L,. uhlagla is we nrsl Amel'lcau to vial& the island on a plant -hunting exploratiuu. bus trip was made Pos- stule'-'turtUgh the -co-operation of. ole. uureau of plant inddstry -With • the Arnold Arburetum of. Boston., the Uni- versity of niversityof Algiers, and by the friendly luterestRit' tide French, and Madagascar. govern/lie/Its. s. Ten o1 the plants are --being-cum-. -cum- menially exploited for rubber at the present time 'in. Madagascar, Lr. ,,,Tingle says. Some o1 them have ai- .uauy been introduced tutO the United .,Jtates and are being tested: in the department's experiment garden is southern Florida. Another plant which promises to be of economic importance is the atom - bora, a large leguminous tree which produces "leety," a gunk used in varn- ish manufacture. Numerous ornamen- tal plants, shrubs, vine) andetrees are �Ynksi: "If you 110op knives and tonin it means coMpauy's • comlug," :Kinks;. "If you miss then, it means they're gone,"' that trouble is not tor D. house for her lith for a cradle for the. young ones, - Another clever mother is the inlmit. ""� "` -- STUNT RIDER FORCES MOUNT' THROUGH FLAMES able water spider. She makes a web- - uuclarnoatu lire water .and fills it with At a Mexican rodeo held in Ascot Park, Los Angelos, Captain Claus . Pitt staged this t; . stiuct; that is to say, without any ex- dry air, and in. that diving hell, as ill rifle through flame and smoke on his horse "Rod Head * them included in the culleetiou, among. a number of speclmens of elephant's. toot, several aloes and a rare hibiscus - like shrub. A Limn:nate set o1 the collection was telt at •l'anaual'ive as a "nest egg" to 00rve for replacing in case. of loss or injury to' the eoilectlon during its lung journey to the united States. Another duplicate net was sent to the Univers- ity ot Los- Angles. �Altnuuyll Lr, atingle was lluding new -rubber' plants that may'•euable: rile rest ul the world to coutinae to 1'lde on i uouer,•'. n.8 .001.5 not so fur - ...mate cit a.. times 410 his own mode 'of' travel, L.. t..e auutnern part of this biome Wuc.o must OI Ms time was spent., transportation was extremely diinculc. Althu.ugu some of the trip was made by automobile, at times it was. necessary to Otto the "Marisa/la," a sort of sedan chair swung on two poles carried by four natives. With the baggage carriers and guides the party on the march consisted ot 40 or 50 men and 30 miles was a good avrs'l tyad .e bis-Nngelesingshrdnu day's travel. Killing On ighi'Seas New Head of Involves 4 Nations Borden's Started The United States Depoits to as Chore Brazil Sailor Who Caused Harry A, Croak's Career Be - Death of Norwegian on gen in a'Collxltr}' Cream Swedish Vessel ery Less Than Thirty A story of manslaughter on the Yeats Ago, high seas, which started with the quarrel of two senora over a shaving( bi'usll and bas caused international REAL, ROMANCE coinplleatlons, alas now bepti brong'ht harry A. Croak, who was recently to an end, through the extradition rot elected president of the Borden's Farm oontly to brazil 01 Frau.co500, x11001 Products Company, Inc., 0110 of the Manuel Ile Lima, a nineteen -year-old argot fluid milk distributing 0010p811 oiler on the Swedish steamer Liguria les in the world, and of the Borden's of'the Swedish Lloyd lino, The events data to Aug. 2S, last year, when the steamer was thirty-six miles off Ambrose•'Ligbt, Port of New York, according 10 statements made by witnesses at the -:time. Iiia was shaving on deck when Claus Monson, to have a drink of water and saw that his shaving brush was being used. He took the brush from. Lima, but there was uo quarrel. Later the two men had breakfast together. Afterward, however, they were found fighting, witnesses said, and Lima struck bIon- son s0 severely with an iron bar that lie died from internal injuries the fol- lowing day. -Before his death M011 - son gave his version of the row. De 'Lima, on his part, maintained he had been persecuted by his fellow -sailor. Me admitted the b:ow, A prelimin- ary hearing Was held On board the sfawner by the Assistant United States Attorney. The Brabiliau sail- or Was ar'r'ested and placed 10 jail in Brooklyn. Olaf ki. Lamm, Swedish Consul. General in New York, sought imme- diately to have De Lima sent to Sweaen to be tried there, as the crime was committed on board a Swedish steamer ou the 0igii' seas, At the same time the Swedish Legation in Washington communicated with the Secretary o1 State and asked for 1)0 Lima's extradition, Tee case Was referred to Extradi- tiou Uomhusslouer Iv 11nam J, Wilson of the Federal Court, ;aoLeru ins - trait uf. new York,' who clement! Gnat the extradition treaty. between the Milted ufa108 and. bweden Was .not app.luable. S"urtlY atterward the Deettrtme11L of Lttber -deported Le yWti6 to 1.10 U0 Janeiro. at a� a L.uc.y- uv,r ...at'the '`u Wed .au uuu aruriwo•ail tl u.q.,ix1iS5 Wlll aee0 LU have Ls L1ma LL10.1 velure a isr'azillan court. Manuel. ue Herres, Uunsul ueneral-for Brazil in. New York, has taaeu charge o1 the case. The Baby Teeth A Series of f-irucies or inter- est to all Mothers, Young and Old Particularly Young now many 0110101/1 was be? "Tell little lingers and ten little toss"—matt- ing twenty in all—and there you have their number. Easy to remember,. isn't it? And when should you begin to look for them? About the sixth or seventh month, Aud which comes first? As a rule, the lower front tooth, the central in- cisor. So after all baby's fretfulness he has a brand new tooth or two—so white and so sound they look that you never give a thought to future tooth, troubles. Then the other eighteen or nineteen white coated little ''millers" will fol- low at somewhat regular intervals until•Sonny is two years old,°when he Farm Company, Ltd., of Canada, be- f;an his business career lass -than thirty Years ago as chore boy in a country creamery. •To -day, in addition to his oth.r duties, he directs the Al.. bony, Utica, New Jersey, .Westoliester and Connecticut bi'visions of the con/ - Dorn at Binghamton; N,Y., Mr. Cronk's first connection with the daily- business was asslsting, a milk dealer in his home town alter school' hours, After attending high school for two years, he left it to work with -a butter manufacturing company, serving in creameries in Big Springs, Ilakey Valley and Truxtmt, N,Y. lie. was opuneeted with this company several years,: and then. became head of a co- operative creamery at Brisbeu,. N,Y. 1n. 1902 he entered the service of the Borden company when ittook over , 111e 1Brisben piaut and retaliietl him as manager. btthsequeutly he wets ap- pointed 10 the farm inspection division and later was proluoted to the general management of ail. the Bordeu plants 10 ()range and Sussex Counties. lu 1811 Nir. Crook was sent to the Uhicagu division of the Border Com- pany as production manager.. Four years later he was transferred to New York, Re was elected vice-president lu charge of the production herein 1.510, and in 1921 he assumed the gen- eral management of the company, holding his post until his most recent promotion. bllulLln 11400 015 loll temporary Set. '!'hese are the temporary or uecidu- ous teeth—being known also as the "milk teeth", from which you wiU be aware, of course, that they won't be retained right through adult age. They should all remain in place, how- ever, until about the seventh year,. when, through the natural process of shedding. ,they commence to be lost. Then, as the time approachee for the eruption of the second set. unless the first teeth are sufficiently separ- ated in front to allow one or two thicknesses of blotting paper between them, .the arches have not properly expanded and the second set is cer- tain to be crowded and irregular. In such case, the family dentist should always be consulted. Since Sonny is going to lose these small teeth in good time and get a nice naw set, why bother to care for them? Well, little Sonny does not want a tooth -ache any mbre than de you -and for several other good reasons, of which more to follow. A Foolish Stunt That Should Be Stopped daring and "Safety Safety Glass" It is Bullet -Proof arld Non-Dis- colorable, Laboratory Tests Show fristan ,1 (sets dio Set Tristan Da' Canna, the wor1U'a 1011.8- llest island, is to 'have a three,..tive short-wave wireless •receiver. 'an.a is 1581115 tat5en out by toe Rev. A. 4.. earf 1158, who 18 tailing up his volun- tary mama id 'I'ristaut as cnapiaiu,, anti the sec has been presented to fife intend by the editor and friends of the African World. As there are no facilities on the island for charging batteries,,the high tension supply to the set will be taken from a bank of 90 large cells, ot the . type used for domestic bell circuits, and the valve filaments will be heated by spacial cells. It is calculated that these should last 12 mouths and as it is hoped that arrangemeats wilt be completed for a special schooner trove Cape Town to call at least once a year, there should be no interruption of re• Maim. The little community will thus be brought into daily contact with three continents — Europe through 5 S W (Onelmstord) and 20.J(Holland); America, through 2XAll 2XAF and other short-wave transmitters; and Australia, through 210 (Sydney) and perhaps 3L0 (Melbourne). It is also possible that the Cape Town station may be received. Honest! . An irlsn y08111 Ulipaetl fel' a situa• tion as a junior clerk in the office of a large firm. "Pat," said the manager at the end of the Interview, "1 ant afraid that you are not strictly honest. I've heard some whisperings that you were a little untrustworthy when you were at school. I must have a per- fectly honest lad -here." "Faith, an' 01 can show you a certificate of hon- esty that will make ye change yer mind entirely" said Pat, as he pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket. The manager read it, and then asked` "Who wrote this?" "11 did, sir," was the reply. "And is a certificate ie your own writing a proof of your honesty?" inquired the manager. "Sure it is, sir!" said the Irish youth. Because 01 know more about myself than any- one nyone else, and if 01 wasn't honest 01 wouldn't have told ye .01 wrote it my- self!" In dnaulluue (.1151 1.011 "satety glass," 00111011 la asserted to be "11011- apuuLOritble, 11011-InetolOrable and 1100- ullraiamau,e,•' and Whien was recently eatsnteU 1y au LUgllah 111111, Tee Lon- UOn Ua113 _telegraph notes saute OL tue le01.5 10 (111150 it 1104 been swiped. ea. dud its appearance as follows: "'nests at r•arauay house Testlul3 Laboratories have been -made of the new glass, Subjected to a powerful mercury vapor tamp for tweuty-tour hours it showed no discoloration, al- though the temperature of the game when under test was about P?.7. Wheu eervice revolver bullets were fired at the glass• at distances of ten and twenty-five yards the glass was pul- verized to a depth of 1.32 of an inch only. "in appearance it is almost identi- cal with ordinary glass. It can be made in any shape or size (withinthe limits imposed by the protective raw materials) and in any thickness, from that of the finest' optical glass to that of bullet-proof glass. "The facts that 'xetal' is not made with the ordinary celluloid (nitro- cellulose) which upon exposeure to the sun's rays becomes discolored even in temperate zones, and that It is not inflammable, are advantages claimed for it by its manufacturers," Britain Plans Curb on Forced Labor Gradual Elimination of Ser- vice in Kind in Tropics is Aim of Dominions Secretary Loudon—The Dominions Secretary, L. C, M, S. Amery, at, a League of Nations Union conference on forced labor here, referriug to the survival of this institution in Africa, said the question was how gradually to limit and in time eliminate, those forme of customary service in kind, He re- ferred particularly to public roads and drainage works, on which service in Itind is still held indispensable in some backward areas. The. Colonial Undersecretary, Wil liam A. Ormsby Gore, said forced labor had been eliminated practically everywhere in British territory Out- side or tropical .Africa and its main use to -day, whether for native or pro- teetosate governments, was in conn8c- tion with roacls; Lions Refused to Roar A naturalist had gone to Africa to collect specimens, and he went un- armed, One day, while trekking through the jungle, he encountered a very feroelous looking lion. He gazed at it steadily, murmured a few words, and the beats lowered its tail and slunk away. Five minutes later, ho encountered another brute and with the utmost success repeated his pro- cedure, On his return home he re- peated this story to a circle of friends. It was received sceptically, "But tell' me," asked one of his auditors, "What were the words you spoke, that made those lions run away!" "054" said the naturalist. "I eifsply mur- Hatred to them, 'You'll be ekpected to say a few words after dinner,"' Mother (proudly): "1 wish, my son, that your father would stay home one evening to See hoW welt yotl behave when he le Out." Tourist: "What- very changeable' He claimed that conditions under weather you get down here!" 014 which compulsory labor was resorted fisherman: "Changeable 4,0 ye call spoctaoular to by British administration were it, sir? IC it 'ad been o)•tahgeable we'd comparatively tree from abuses, have changed it tong eget"