The Spider
The spider’s eggs are found in a little bag woven by tine threads attached to some unused corner in the house or attic. The bag contains at a time three hundred to eight hundred very tiny eggs. Having laid the eggs and enclosed them in the silk cocoon woven by it, the spider leaves them to nature.
During warm periods of April or May, all the eggs hatch at the same time and the baby spiders appear in a mass of over four thousand tangled eggs. They struggle and push to free themselves. Then the tiny spiders raise the tail end of their body and send out a fine silken streamer which floats easily in the air. Thus they form bridges of their own with the outside world and scramble out.
Then each infant turns the tail uppermost and spins a fresh thread which is very fine and the thinnest. The thread is carried by the faint breeze and finds some twig or broken stem. Then the young spider leaving its brothers and sisters crosses over and starts life on its own.
When the spider wants to travel further, it spins many delicate strands which matting together in the breeze forms an excellent parachute or airship. Seizing the tangled threads, the tiny spider drifts away over fields and ponds, streams and meadows till it finds the best site on which to build its home.
If the airship gets tangled in reeds or grass, the spider leaves it and spinning a fresh set of sails continues its journey; When it wants to come down, the lines are drawn in and it glides gently to the earth.
Having selected a suitable place, the infant spider starts weaving its first web. Without any training or experience, it weaves a tiny one about the size of a rupee but it is as perfect and beautiful as that of a full grown spider.
In the beginning, the spider does not occupy the center of the web. It builds its silken house at the corner with a communication cord with the rest of the web. When anything touches the snare it gives a warning to the spider.
After catching and eating three or four flies, the spider builds a bigger and stronger web to catch bigger insects.
Web after web is woven, till the web and the weaver are of the full size.
When a big wasp or bee is tangled in the web, to prevent the destruction of the web it immediately releases the victim by cutting away the silken threads holding it.
When it catches a fly or bee it renders it helpless by binding the struggling wings and legs with round after round of thread.
The baby spider is more wonderful than any other insect in the world. It is a skilled engineer, an expert tight rope walker, a master in the art of spinning and weaving and a clever aeronautic.
