teeth, and behind them are little poison sacs. Few spiders could hurt you seriously, but their bites paralyze flies and other small insects.
From the two to eight little eyes in her head, to the same number of spinnerets in her tail, from the deadly jaws to the sensitive, clawed and bristled and padded foot, the spider is a wonderful little creature. She is as clean as Mrs. Fly, washing her face and brushing her hairy body and legs vigorously. She keeps her web clean and every thread mended. And she cares for her babies as tenderly as a mother bird.
Did you ever see a garden spider moving along slowly, dragging a little gray silk ball with her last pair of legs? That is the cradle she makes of silk for her eggs. It isn't fastened to her. When at home she keeps it in the den, or hangs it on a nearby twig. But when she travels she takes it with her, although it hampers her, and makes it much easier for a toad or frog or bird to snap her up. If she drops that ball she hunts for it frantically. Her babies are not hatched out as greedy little grubs, but as little specks of spiders. That is quite unlike any insect. And Mrs. Spider carries her babies on her back. They just swarm all around her like chickens around a hen. She must have to feed them at first, much as a robin feeds its nestlings.
Don't kill spiders in gardens. They eat insects, oh, a great number of them, for they are big eaters. Nearly all insects are harmful, or their grub babies are, living, as they do, on plants. The spiders' wheel and sheet webs, and tunnel dens, are very wonderful. The little creatures are patient, skillful and industrious as bees and ants. They neither use nor destroy anything useful, and they help us grow flowers and vegetables, by eating the flies and moths that lay their eggs on plants. See Spider, page 1798.
