The Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature SPIDERS CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS London: FETTER LANE, E.C. C. F. CLAY, MANAGER [Illustration] Edinburgh: 100, PRINCES STREET London: WILLIAM WESLEY & SON, 28, ESSEX STREET, STRAND Berlin: A. ASHER AND CO. Leipzig: F. A. BROCKHAUS New York: G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS Bombay and Calcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. _All rights reserved_ [Illustration: The Banana Spider, natural size, from a photograph by Mr James Adams.] SPIDERS BY CECIL WARBURTON, M.A. Christ’s College Zoologist to the Royal Agricultural Society Cambridge: at the University Press 1912 [Illustration] Cambridge: PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS _With the exception of the coat of arms at the foot, the design on the title page is a reproduction of one used by the earliest known Cambridge printer, John Siberch, 1521_ PREFACE The modest dimensions of this book are perhaps sufficient indication that it is not intended as an aid to the collector. There are about five hundred and fifty known species of spiders in the United Kingdom alone, and at least an equal number of pages would be needed to describe them. Our concern is with the habits and modes of life of spiders—especially of such as are most frequently met with and most easily recognised, and the reader, especially if he is fortunate enough to spend an occasional holiday in southern Europe, will find little in the following pages which he cannot verify—or disprove—by his own observations. Indeed the hope that some of his readers may be induced to investigate on their own account has actuated the writer throughout, and has led him to lay considerable stress upon the methods of research and the ingeniously devised experiments by means of which whatever knowledge we possess has been obtained. CECIL WARBURTON CAMBRIDGE _March, 1912_ CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. A Survey of the Field. Evidences of spider industry. Where to look for spiders. Variety of habits 1 II. What is a Spider? The Arthropoda and their divisions. Arachnida. Characteristics of a spider. Spinnerets and their use 5 III. The Circular Snare. Foundation lines. The spiral with its viscid beads. The building of the snare. Why the spider is not caught in its own snare 13 IV. The Mental Powers of Spiders. The human standpoint. Instinct. Sight. Hearing. Smell. Taste. Memory and “educability” 20 V. Trap-snares and Balloons. Variations of the circular snare. The snare of _Hyptiotes_. Webs of _Theridion_ and _Linyphia_. The iron railing and its aeronauts. A race congress. Gossamer. Geographical distribution 30