Spiders

The mental capacity of spiders; web architecture; spiders that live under water, even though they need air to breath; spiders that mimic ants; spiders that mimic bird droppings; cannibalism; odd spider mating rituals--these are just some of the topics in this lively book about the modes and habits of common spiders, written by a zoologist.

By : Cecil Warburton (1854 - )

01 - A Survey of the Field 02 - What is a Spider? 03 - The Circular Snare 04 - Mental Powers of Spiders 05 - Trap-Snares and Balloons 06 - Agelena 07 - Water-Spiders 08 - Crab-Spiders, Mimicry 09 - Wolf-Spiders 10 - Jumping Spiders 11 - Theraphosid Spiders 12 - Stridulation 13 - Spinning Apparatus and Feet 14 - The Enemies of Spiders 15 - Some Concluding Reflextions

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.