Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1883 — SPIDERS. [ARTICLE]

SPIDERS.

Spiders have enemies as well as victims. Tiny parasites vex them exceedingly. A large-winged insect of the sphinx order pierces them with its sting, and, carrying them off dead or alive, buries them with its own eggs, that it’s .offspring may find a meal ready when they are hatched. Birds prey upon them, and one among the worst is the “cussed” little sparrow. They form an article of food to the Bosjesmen of South Africa, and the inhabitants of New Caledonia will devour them as cheerfully as a hungry man a beefsteak pie. In the course of nature most of them die on the approach of winter, though tome live several years.