In November 2025, when Colin’s old office in the old Doncaster Museum on Chequers Road had to be evacuated, we came across a very old manuscript stored in a filing cabinet.
The provenance of this document is unknown. However, Colin Howes has a suggestion as to how the manuscript possibly arrived at the Doncaster Museum. Ralph Atkinson contacted the museum, not long after Colin joined their staff, regarding the disposal of the Barnsley Naturalists’ collection of Archives.
It is an original manuscript, consisting of 37 pages, plus 12 further pages and a back cover, that are fastened together with a metal butterfly clip. Each foolscap page measures 13 x 8 inches.
14 of the pages have been written on both sides thus making it a total of 49 sheets of written text.
On the back of the last page, which has become discoloured with age, there is written the following.
Notes on British Spiders
Paper read by W. Robinson before The Barnsley Naturalists Scientific Society o the 23rd January 1893
And (with additions & slides) before Barnsley Literary Society 0n the 7th November 1893. W,R.
Also to All Saints’ Darfield Mutual Improvement Association on 9th January 1894 W.R.
Also before St George’s Men’s Society on Thursday 16th Novr. 1905
[all the above in the same handwriting of W. Robinson]
Throughout the document there appears to have been two distinct handwritings, the majority, as on the back page, by W. Robinson. There has been at least one revision, as noted in the above comments, written in red ink throughout the manuscript.
At the end of the lecture, there are pages referenced A to F that refer to the slides that accompany the revised paper. This is followed by a page headed “Order of slides.” The slides are listed numbers 1 to 15 followed by the name of each slide.
These slides are referenced throughout the paper using the index letters A to F at the point they are required to be shown.
Attached to the manuscript with a paper clip is the following letter/momo dated Nov. 1 1905
Notes on British & other Spiders by W. Robinson
Read before Barnsley Naturalists Society
January 23rd 1892 [1893 on last page]
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide Cobweb’]
The existing state of popular knowledge as to spiders is I believe fairly correctly indicated by the answer made to the Revd O. Pichard Cambridge, who is one of the highest living authorities on spiders & perhaps the highest on British Spiders, by a friend that he knew of four kinds only – the Red Spider, the Harvest Spider, the Garden Spider & the House Spider.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Popular knowledge’]
The answer was a very unlucky one & showed a very common misconception for the first two of the creatures mentd [sic] are not spiders in the strict sense of the word but belong to different orders. As a matter of fact over 500 species of British Spiders are already known to British Naturalists & fresh additions are being constantly made.
When the Mr. Blackwall wrote his exhaustive work about the year 1864 only 304 species were recorded but this number had been increased in the year 1879 to 510. Of these……..
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘No of spiders’]
[p 1]
……. 510 no less than 358 had been found in the County of Dorset. Of the remainder 9 only had been found in Ireland.
No doubt the large proportion found in Dorsetshire is one in a great measure to the different soils found in the county – the chalk & limestone – the heath & the clay – & to the fact that the county has been much better worked than any other portion of the British Island.
The word Spider although a few fanciful derivations have been assigned to it appears is derived no doubt from the habit of spinning.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Derivation & Etymology’]
It is simply a species from the Anglo Saxon “spinnan – to spin”. Dr. Johnson suggested “Spy dor” in allusion to the supposed habit of spiders of lying in wait for their prey in the angles of doorways, but this is certainly too far fetched for acceptance.
By some of our old writers the spider is called “spinurs” In the early English Psalter there is an allusion to “spinwand web”.
The Spiders constitute one of the seven orders of the class Arachnida. I suppose everyone knows how they came by this name. Aracluse was the beautiful daughter of Idmon a purple dyer of hydra & exalted in the art of spinning. She challenged ….
[P 2]
…. the goddess Minerva to a trial of skill in this art & for her presumption was turned into a spider by that august personage. Arachne became the learned name for spiders & this gave the term Arachnida to the class.
But we may go further back than this ancient fable. The Hebrew name means a gilt weaver & the Greek arachne comes from a verb meaning to weave.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Classification’]
Now as to the classif Now allude to the classification of spiders further on. But first
I must speak about the prejudices against them spiders. A great deal of increasing dislike prevails about spiders – one largely no doubt to the sinister look that they seem to posses. Some people think their name has a sinister sound & appearance. But I think it is only through ignorance & prejudice that they can be viewed in this way.
We shall find amongst spiders not only elegance of form but many curious & complex structures wonderfully adapted to their mode of life & great beauty & colouring even among our British vars. While in some exotic species there are numerous examples of brilliancy of colouring that are not to be surpassed by any thing even in the insect world.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Ferocity’]
That spiders are ferocious in their habits is undeniable. The males fight with great fury & the females especially in ….
[p 3]
….. regarding their eggs & young do not know what fear is. They are usually larger & stronger than the male frequently devouring their partners the writer quaintly observes. Their honeymoon is of short duration & is terminated by the bride banqueting on the bridegroom. Doubtless she evinces taste & discrimination in her appreciation of a nice young male.
Perhaps maternal instinct to prevent male from breakfasting on young. Preserves integrity of empiric by eating the founder of it
[Here a * added indicating a reference to a script written in red in the RH margin as follows]
“& as Dr. Wilson says – Arachnidan Society appears tacitly to justify this procedure & to regard the mysterious disappearance of a husband as an event which the lady most interested is entitled to regard with equanimity, if not as an utterly uninteresting proceeding.”
I will not waste any further comment on this practice amongst the wives of spiders than remark that it is very analogous to a custom prevalent amongst some low tribes of humanity who think is their bounden duty to relieve their aged parents of the troubles of this world by drowning them.
We must not censure this quality in spiders then too much just because it differs from our own standards of propriety.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Carnivorous habits’]
Some people take exception to these carnivorous habits of spiders but apparently without any reason. I believe they do us a very good turn by lessening the numbers of some of the greatest amongst the minor torments of life – gnats flies & mosquitoes. The hosts of Ashor.1
It will not surprise many of you to learn hear ……
Note 1. Written in red ink as an additional item over the line.
[P 4]
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Differences between spiders & insects’]
………. That a spider is not an insect. The spiders – Arancidea – form a group of the great Branch of the animal Kingdom Articulata.
They differ from insects
- In not undergoing any metamorphosis – it is a spider from first to last & merely undergoes several moultings or castings of the skin as it goes on, after its first enclusion from the egg, to maturity.
- The head is not distinct, as it is in insects, but forms one solid piece in the thorax.
- The legs are eight in number instead of six.
- Wings are totally absent.
- No antennae are present
- The eyes are all simple in structure, differing remarkably from the compound eyes of insects.
- Difference in reproductory organs
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘External Anatomy’]
I will now explain to you shortly the external anatomy of the spider.
It is composed externally of two parts – The fore part consists of the head & chest which as I said before are not separate but form one mass called the cephalothorax (from Greek kephale head & thorax [or] chest). Of this the covering of the upper side is called the shield & that of the lower the sternum or Breastplate.
It is very probable that at one period of the spider’s genealogical history these parts were separate but …..
[P. 5]
…… no doubt the exiflucies (?) of the spiders life require them to be soldered together & so have become connected welded into one as it were. The other part – the hind part of the spider’s body is called the abdomen & is connected with the cephalon thorax by a fine tubular stalk or pedicle.
Note. Thoracic indentation [added latter in red ink]
Of the upper part of the head cephalo thoran in front are the eyes. They are simple, unmoveable & six or eight in number in all the known British species, though a few exotics posses no more than 2 or 4. They vary very much in size & I the manner of grouping & form an important characteristic in the distinction of genera.
Spiders appear to be able to see both by day & night & they are in some measure compensated for inability to move the eyes by having their visual axis variously directed & thus the 8 eyed spiders are frequently able to look in 8 different directions at once.
[Here a * added indicating a reference to a script written in red in the RH margin as follows]
“The eyes vary in shape as well as in colour – some are pearly white, others in the same individual are dark grey & even black, while among salticids, eyes of most brilliant hues may be seen showing the colours of the amethyst, emerald, opal & other precious stones. The greater part are round, others oval & some of irregular form.”
[the handwriting changes in appearance at this point.]
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Enlarged drawing’]
Below the eyes & above the mouth is a pair of jaw-like organs known as the falces forceps or poison fangs. These are two in number and are so attached to the head as to move either up and down or sideways. As the end of each is a strong curved moveable fang with a
Most commonly the fang is met by a low of teeth placed along the inner side of the falx. The falces are charged with poisonous fluid which if poured into the wound made by the fang through a small opening in the tip. And they are thus very formidable …..
[P. 6]
…… weapons. They are used not only for seizing and holding the prey, but also. Although they cannot be classed as mandibles, as thy are not part of the mouth, to assist in the process of eating.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide mouth’]
Below the falces is the mouth. This is furnished externally by with upper and under lips with a pair of maxillae or jaws. The lower lip is attached to the sternum. The maxillae are placed on each side the lower lip and they form the supporting joints of the palps. They are called maxillae or jaws because they assist in the compression of the spider’s prey.
The palps have five joints or if we include the maxilla, six. They vary greatly in the two sexes and are very varied in length & strength & form. Occasionally these palps are used as legs but most commonly as feelers. They are most important for the determination of spiders as they are never exactly alike in any two males of different species.
The legs are eight in number and are connected by joints with the cephalo-thorax. They are composed of seven joints. The first is called the haunch, the second & third form the thigh, the fourth & fifth, the shank, & the sixth & seventh the foot. The legs are hairy and spinous.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide foot. A’]
The cephalon thorax has a leathery covering, and is oval, heart-shaped or oblong in different species. The surface is naked or hairy & sometimes glossy.
[ another change to the hand writing, reverting back to the first person]
We now come to the second leading division of the spider’s body – the abdomen.
This is attached to the middle part of the cephalon thorax by a short but distinct sheath or pedicle. The cuticle ………
[P. 7]
……. Secreted within the abdomen in glands (sometimes over 1,000 in number) which communicate with the spinnerets by small tubes or ducts & become hardened immediately on being exposed to air. In issuing from the tubes these 1,000 strands are joined to form the single thread which is invisible to the eye. It is very difficult to conceive the exquisite fineness of these strands that make up the single thread of the web.
I must allude now very briefly to the breathing organs & then we will pass on from the spider’s external structure.
The breathing apparatus is situated beneath the fore extremity of the abdomen, consisting externally of two generally but in some cases four very distinct roundish or oval plates placed in a transverse line & having at their hinder edge a small transverse slit, leading to the main breathing organs which are situate underneath.
These organs are a modification of the tracheal or air tube system found in insects. Instead of the air being taken as in the insecta into simple tubes from numerous external orifices, it is taken in through the …..
[P. 9]
….. transverse slits asentd above into a special breathing apparatus thus localizing the main supply of air in a way somewhat analogous to the action of the lungs of the mammalia thence aerating blood as it passes to the heart.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘internal structure’]
I must now very briefly refer to the internal structure of spiders but it is of course impossible in a paper like this to say much on this subject.
The organs of digestion are contd, in a large sac or stomach placed within the cavity of the cephalon thorax. Circulation is affected by means of a large four chambered vessel placed lengthways in the upper part of the abdomen, close beneath the cuticle. It is called “the dorsal vessel” instead of heart. In this vessel the vital fluid which is a colourless liquid is collected & thence circulated by a regular system of arteries & veins.
The organs of respiration have already been referred to.
Of the senses of spiders there is much yet to be learned. That they are possessed of the sense of touch & that they see & taste there appears to be no doubt, altho’ the presence …..
[p. 10]
……… of this last sense is deduced from observation of their habits & not from a knowledge of the organ in which it resides. The organ of hearing also remains to be discovered altho’ there is no doubt they can hear. We are actopr. ignorant of their sense of smell.
The internal anatomy of the spider shows that it is separated from insects by several characters which in most cases are such as to entitle it to a higher rank in the scale of animal life.
The spider changes its skin several times before arriving at maturity & at the time of moulting there is frequently a reproduction of parts which have been broken off or injured, such as legs etc.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Q? slide of spider’]
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Venom’]
Now I have no doubt that one reason why spiders are so much neglected by ordinary observers is the idea that they are venomous. Now you may take it that no British spider is capable of causing a poisoned wound of any severity upon man. No doubt some of the larger species to be found in the tropics & ……
[P. 11]
…. certainly in New Zealand are venomous but these are not among the larger kinds & the species are probably few. It has been said that the bite of some of these foreign species has been followed by death, but we can scarcely credit the assertion of Sealiger, a native of Gascony, “that there were in his country spiders of that virulency, that if a man treads upon them to crunch them their poison will pass through the very soles of his shoes.”
Poor spiders – Titania the queen of the fairies wove their web & yet would not have the weavers near her
“Weaving spiders come not here
Hence, you long-legged spinners, hence! avoid”
Yet Puck swings on their threads “hung between two tranches of brids” & the fairies lutes are strung with gossamer & their steeds reigned with “smallest spider’s webs”
Ireland seems (at least in former times) to have been a more fortunate country, spiders being included in the list of noxious animals excluded from that island as we find by ines in a poem of John Pilips, published in 1706.
“Happy Jerue, whose most wholesome air
Poisons envenomed spiers, and forbids
The baleful toad & viper from her shore”
& Green notices this legend in the line
“As spiders Irish wainscot flee”
This superstition being that not only did St. Patrick drive “all venomous” out of the island but communicated to bog-oak the property of keeping the spiders off. Is it not a tradition that there are no spiders for this reason in the House of Commons, the woodwork being all of Irish oak?
[P. 12]
The unkindest cut of all is an idea expressed by Sir Thos. Moore, but not confined to himself, that “as for spiders it is written that they are things produced spontaneously, as Aristotle phrases it, & are generated of mere sluttery & putrefaction”
On the other hand however the Kentish proverb “If you wish to live and thrive, let the spider run alive” seems to connect the spider with man’s prosperity.
Although, however, not generally venomous in respect of mankind, the bite of a spider is undoubtedly poisonous when inflicted on its prey. One effect of it is, probably in most cases, to benumb or paralyse the insect. Is not this venomous power an instance of wise provision enabling the spider to mercifully paralyse their prey in killing that they shall have no pain?
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Modes of Maiming prey’]
Spiders are evidently formed for preying on other creatures & the majority of their prey being endowed with the power of able to seek safety in flight we find spiders endowed with skill & craft rather than with great comparative strength. There are several ways in which rapacious animals obtain their prey – ……
[p. 13]
……… by running it down which is not often tho’ sometimes adopted by spiders.
2ndly by searching about carefully & when the prey is descried, stopping short & leaping upon it – This is a method in very common use amongst some families of spiders (Lycosidae, Salticidae & Drassides)
3rdly by lying in concealment until the prey comes within reach & then seizing it. Spiders lie in wait among the petals of flowers & then seize the insect as they come to suck the honey.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide Web Spiders in centre’]
But another method of trapping their prey adopted by some of the most extensive familie of spiders – Agelenides, Theridiides & Epiiriides – is the spinning of snares in which the insect become entangled.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Webs’]
The subject of web spinning is one of the most interesting parts of the study of spider but requires much time & patience. I have already alluded to the way in which the web is produced. Let us glance for a minute at the web of the common garden spider the geometrical spider as it is called (Epeira diadema). She selects a suitable twig & pressing her spinneret against it deposits a tiny drop of gummy substance ……
[P. 14]
….. Then she gives put a fine thread of silk which is carried by the wind or taken by her to some other twig close by & securely fastened. She then runs backward & forward along the first thread five or six times spinning as she goes until she has made the line sufficiently strong. Then she forms a second thread in a similar fashion extending to a third point & so on until she has formed her outline which she gets to its proper tension by fixing it to the surrounding points of vantage by smaller threads. Now begins the spinning of the central part – she first forms a diameter & running along this to the centre she spins the remaining half to the circumference thus forming a radius,
[a note in black ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide. First radii’]
she repeats this so quickly that her movements can scarcely by followed – until she has made some 26 of these radii which she fastens & hauls taut one by one to the centre.
[a note in black ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide. Spokes’]
She then spins the circular lines of the web until from centre to circumference there is a series of circular lines making the spaces ……..
[P. 15]
….. between each spoke like so many ladders. So far all the threads are dry & hard. Now, however, the spider changes her material & working this time from circumference nearly to the centre she spins again this time the threads being covered sprayed with globules of fluid.
[a note in black ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide. Viscid beads’]
These threads are so adhesive that no insect touching them stands much chance of escape.
To give you an idea of the elaborate work entailed in the construction of Epeira’s web Mr. Blackwall calculated that the total no. of viscid globules in a finished web of average size would be 87.360. It is no wonder that intruders have a poor chance. Yet all the marvellous structure takes only 45 minutes to complete, if there is no interruption. The centre of the web is left dry, because the spider often stations herself there lying in wait for food.
The knowledge of the expedition with which spiders construct their webs is not without practical utility. A case once occurred in which the conviction or acquittal of a prisoner turned upon whether an …..
[P. 16]
….. outhouse door had been fraudulently opened or not. The door itself was uninjured & the prisoner was finally acquitted on proof that the key hole in the morning of its examination was found covered with cobweb; from this the counsel for the defence argued that it could not possibly have been touched during the previous night in which the alleged opening of the door had taken place. The defence would have fallen thro’ at once had it been known that such web might have been spun in the course of half an hour or less.
[a note in black ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide. Suspension bridge’]
Spiders lines may frequently be seen strained across open spaces, sometimes many feet or even yards in extent. This has been is explained by some naturalists to have been done often by the help of a current of air carrying the thread across to some projecting point or twig to which it adheres. This may have been so in some cases but the usual method is for the spider to fire its line, then run down to the ground, across the intervening space & up the opposite side trailing its line as it goes & the hauling in the slack it fixes the line to the desired spot.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide. Web of Calloflylla’]
[The following is inserted into the LH margin at the bottom of the page.]
One species, a very common one, often departs from the usual spiral plan & leaves an isolated radius as its pathway into the web. In the web are a series of incomplete circles with a free radius leading to a small silken tubular hiding place.
[P. 17]
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Gossamer’]
Before leaving this subject I must allude to what are known as gossamer spiders. I suppose everyone has observed the numerous silken line & small, white, flake-like webs floating in the air especially on a fine day in early autumn. These are almost all formed by the young of numerous species of spiders. Whenever & wherever they move they appear to leave a line or lines behind them; these lines trail along & adhere to every intervening object, or else float about, higher or lower, according to the density of the atmosphere; hence their common use as a local & generally trustworthy prognostic of the weather. The flake like form of gossamer depends upon atmospheric conditions being only seen in fine settled weather. On a bright spring morning railings & parapets of bridges near meadows & swamps are often thronged with numerous species & they may be observed pushing themselves off & floating in the air on their lines; the lines in the first instance no doubt are propelled from …..
[P. 18]
… the spinner at the will of the spider but are afterwards drawn out by the influence of the current of air & when sufficient line has been drawn out the spider gives a little jump & sets sail. It will be seen that the popular idea that gossamer is due to a particular species called “the gossamer spider” is quite erroneous. There are some interesting notes on the subject in the Rev. Gilbert White’s Nat. Hist. of Selborne.
Some very strange opinions have been entertained concerning this gossamer, of these one of the strangest as proceeding from a scientific man was that of Dr. Robert Horke in his “Micrographia” printed by the Royal Society in 1664
“that it is not unlikely but that those great white clouds which appear all the summer time may be of the same substance.”
Most of the poets seem to be agreed as to the material of the gossamer
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘E’]
Quarles says
“And now Autumnal dews are seen
To cobweb every green”
[P. 19]
Spencer describes
“a web of silk & silver thin than which
More subtle web Arachne cannot spin
Nor the fine web which oft we woven see
Of scorched deaw or not is th’ayre more lightly flee”
And Thompson calls them
“filmy threads of dew evaporate”
The word is found in an early form as “gar summer” & is supposed to mean the summer hoar as opposed to the hoar frost of winter – gar or gor signifying hoar, & it appears that the gossamer was ranked with atmosphere & similar phenomena in old times, from Chaucer’s lines
“Sore wondren some on cause of thunder
On ebbe & flood on gossamer & on mist”
In German, the gossamer is Sommer-weben, the web of Summer.
A very convenient use of these silken lines is made by one of our commonest jumping spiders Epiblemum scenicius (Salticide). It is found on perpendicular walls & always has a line trailing behind it from the spinners & adhering to the surface of the wall. The spider is then able to leap for a considerable distance on its prey which is could not possibly do unless it had a line to bring it back again to the perpendicular surface it had left as its spring.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Commercial use of spider’s silk’]
It is not probable that any use will even be ……
[P. 20]
……….. made of spiders silk from a commercial point of view. Several attempts have been made & more than 150 years since stockings & gloves were woven from it in France. The spiders silk is much inferior in strength & lustre to that of the silkworm – one thread from the silkworm’s cocoon being equal in strength to about 5 from the spiders.
But the great objection is found in the difficulty of rearing them for the purpose of obtaining their silk is found in owing to their great natural ferocity – They cannot be kept together – the larger will soon kill & eat the smaller so that no matter how many you place together they will soon be reduced to one or two in each cell.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Protective resemblance’]
Another very interesting part of the study of spiders is the way in which some species resemble others belonging to other groups of this branch of the animal kingdom. This is perhaps best expressed as “Protective resemblance” as no doubt it is intended for the protection of the spider from its natural enemies & perhaps to give it a chance of obtaining its prey more easily.
(See page 22)
[P. 21]
With regard to the classification of spiders I suppose I must give an outline of this as no paper on the subject could be complete without it.
The true spiders Araneidea as I have said before form a group of that branch of the animal kingdom Articulata & constitute one out of the seven orders of the class Arachnida.
Branch Articulata
Class 1 – Annelids or anarthropida
Class 2 – Condylopoda or arthropoda
Sub class I. Insecta
Sub class II. Myriapoda
Sub class lll. Arachnida
Sub class lV. Crustacea
Sub class lll. Arachnida
Seven Orders
Acaridea
Phalangidea
Scorpionidea
Araneidea
And three others not represented in Britain
The first sub-division of Araneidea is in to families. Mr. Blackwell divided them into 3 tribes
Octoclnia, characterized by possessing 8 eyes; an other Lenoullnia, having six eyes; the third Binoclnia, with two eyes.
Although this classification possesses much ……..
[21a.]
……. practical convenience, the objection to it is that it brings together spiders widely different in every respect excepting in the mere number of eyes. Others have taken the different kinds of ?uares (?) as the basis of scientific classification. But this sub division is equally untenable.
I shall follow Mr. Pichard Cambridge’s classification.
Families are characterized by general form & structure & habits & modes of life. Next to families come the Genera – classification by details of structure & number & position of eyes. The Genera are again subdivided into species.
| Family | No of Genera | Total species in Family |
| Theraphosides | 1 Atypus | 3 |
| Dysderides | 5 | 8 |
| Drassides | 11 | 56 |
| Eresides | 1Eresus | 1 |
| Dictynides | 3 | 17 |
| Agelenides | 7 | 20 |
| Scytotides | 1Scytodes | 1 |
| Pholeides | 1 Pholeus | 1 |
| Theridiides | 7 | 32 |
| Epeirides | 17 | 267 |
| Aloborides | 2 | 2 |
| Thonisides | 9 | 43 |
| Lycosides | 6 | 35 |
| Oxyopides | 1 | 1 |
| Salticides | 13 | 31 |
| Total 15 | 85 | 518 |
[P. 21b]
Lycosides – running on the ground or lying hidden under stones.
Salticides – nemastrable for velocity with which they run & leap
Thonisides – Legs are so jointed as to spread out straight from the body enabling it to move freely backwards, forwards & sideways & gives it a crab-like appearance.
Drassides – construct silken cells in which to hide themselves in leaves, cavities, etc.
Agelenides – webs remarkable – very closely woven.
Epeira – To this family belong those spiders whose webs are formed by precise geometrical rule.
Dysderides – These spiders hunt their prey.
[P. 21c]
The most striking instance of resemblance among British Spiders is that of Micaria scintillans belonging to the family of Drassides. It so nearly resembles a large ant that it requires the second look of even a practiced eye to distinguish it. Another kind of resemblance is that which many spiders bear to various other objects, such as buds & blossoms of plants, bits of lichen, small stones, etc. also as to colour of the surroundings – of the walls or the bark of trees, or the leaves of plants or the petals of flowers. One of our common Epeirides found on rose bushes is of a clear green colour, with a bright red spot at the hinder extremity of the abdomen. Many other instances might be given but it is sufficient here merely to call attention to this part of the study of spiders.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Enemies’]
Altho’ spiders are found for the destruction of others they have themselves many enemies. They prey upon themselves – Numbers are destroyed in the young state by the Phalangids or Harvestman. The large black & red ant also destroy them so completely that where they …..
[P. 22]
…… abound it is almost useless to search for spiders. Wasps & hornets also devour them as also do birds, lizards & other reptiles. Some insects prey parasitically on spiders. The Pompilus sepicola – a large black & red wasp like inset – seizes some of our largest spiders paralyses them with its sting & drags them by main force to its hole in the sand & deposits its eggs in the spiders body, so that when the eggs larvae hatch, the spider affords them food till they arrive at maturity. Drought as well as wet, but especially the former
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide. Dolomedes mirabilia’]
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Affection for young. “B”’]
Many spiders shew the greatest attachment for their eggs and young. The Lycosides carry their egg cocoons about with them & if deprived of them they search anxiously about, eagerly seizing the cocoon when found & again & again doing so if deprived of it. These spiders also carry their young on their backs until they are old enough to shift for themselves.
This surely is a trait which will do something raising the spider in your estimation.
[P. 23]
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Longevity’]
The length of life among spiders has not been definitely ascertained. It is evidently very varied. It is probable that the life of a spider soon closes when its eggs are laid or its young hatched & able to look after themselves. Some of our house spiders will live for several seasons. Mr. Jesse has recorded an instance where two spiders formed their webs within a drawer & continued used exclusively for soap & candles & continued to occupy opposite corners of it for 13 years. But this must be taken cum grano salis. The subject must always remain involved in much obscurity owing to the difficulty of making trustworthy observations upon it.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin as follows]
In [Samuel] Smiles Life of Thomas Edwards, the Scotch Naturalist, mentions the fact of a spider having lived in one of his sealed up cases for 12 months without food. He says that after the case had been sealed upn he saw him walking over the binds until at last he became stationary in one of the corners & constructed a web there, He was the only living thing in it & he remained there without food for more than 12 months. The superstitious notion that a spider shut up without food for a year is transformed into a diamond probably cost many of them their lives.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Observations on species. Slide vars. of spiders’]
I must now pass on to some brief observations of one or two different species of which I have enlarged drawings. The first is the Atypus. Belongs to Theraphosides – only 3 British Repres. Family includes some of the giants of the spider tribes, as well as some others (notably the trap Door Spiders) of great interest.
[P. 24]
The cephalo thorax is reddish brown – glossy easily distinguished by the great size of the cephalo thorax & falces. Examples of this family occur in South America, reaching the great expanse of 10 inches from tip to tip of the outstretched legs – the body itself measuring 3 ins in length. The present spider forms a silken tube in a hole in the earth of its own excavation. At the end of this tube the spider remains waiting for its prey, which is said to consist of earthworms, beetle, earwigs. The female is about half an inch in length – Rare & local.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘C’]
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide. Water Spiders & enlarged drawing’]
Argyroneta aquatica
Fam. brassida & derivation arguros – silver & neo to opui.
Female ½ inch male larger – unusual
This remarkable spider lives chiefly under water, where it pursues its pray & constructs its nest. Abdomen covered with fine downy hairs, which entangle a quantity of air & retaining it give the spider an appearance when diving of a globule of quicksilver. The air supplies the breathing organs & enables it to live under water. As if not content with this arrangement, which necessitates constant visits to the surface for fresh supplies of air the spider stores a little reservoir of air in its submerged dome shaped cell the opening being of course under water. The cell which is precisely analogous to our diving bell is attached ….
[P. 25]
…. by silken thread to neighbouring objects in the water such as stalks & leaves of plants. Here it lies in wait for its prey, deposits its eggs & encloses itself to pass the winter. Occasionally she comes on shore for food which is then carried into the cell.
Amaurobius fenestralis
Ciniflo atrax – Fam & derivation
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Enlarged drawing’]
The poisoned bite of this spider is aid to be more rapid in its effect than that of other species, enabling it to attack & kill wasps & other large insects. When disturbed in its web, this spider drops suddenly to the ground & feigns death.
The female is 3/8 inch
Another member of the genus is Amaurobius ferox, it is one of our largest spiders. It is found in cellars & under floors of ?ofleses (?) & is frequently to be seen crawling on the walls & seats of dilapidated churches & has deceived the name of The Old Churchman & is looked upon with a sort of superstitious respect. The adult female is a bold & powerful spider & will bite the fingers fiercely when laid hold of. Sport by ferreting it with uncanny looking Black Beetle known as “The Devils’ Coach Horse”
[P. 26]
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Enlarged drawing’]
Tegenaria domestica
Fam Agelenida & derivation
Most of the genus Tegenaria are house spiders. They spin a horizontal sheet of web in angles& courses of walls with a tubular retreat near the centre of the web at the mouth of which they wait.
This is the largest of the group – the extent of its outstretched legs often approaching 4 ins. It has been called “The Cardinal Spider” owing to a tradition which connects it in some way with Cardinal Wolsly [sic] during his residence at Hampton Court. No doubt this is the spider refd. to by Jesse when he speaks of a breed of spiders at Hampton Court so large that they looked like mice running over the floor. We are all familiar with its web which is generally in a poor state. Pope in describing a country house ironically says “In most of the rooms there are hangings of the finest work in the world, that is to say, those whish Arachne spies from her own bowels” and Spencer in alluding to the gilded vault of the Cave of Mammon says
[The passage is a quotation from Edmund Spenser’s epic poem The Faerie Queene.]
“And over there Arachne high did lift
Her sunning web & spread her subtle net
Enwrapped in foul smoke & clouds more black than jet.”
Web valuable property – soon tenanted again if owner killed.
[P. 27]
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Enlarged drawing’]
Tentrix Lycosnia
Fam Agelenida & derivation
This is a very handsome spider. Found in cracks and crevices of cliffs & among rocks & stones & in the walls of old stone quarries. Snare similar to Tegenaria. Horizontal sheet of web & with funnel shaped passage.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Enlarged drawing’]
Theridion pallens
Fam. Theridiidae Deviation
A very minute & common spider – about 1/12 in. long. The cocoon is lager than the spider itself. It is formed in June & is found in shrubs & bushes on heaths & near woods. The female is nearly white. A most interesting circumstance is recorded of this spider. The little white cocoon & its owner had been brought indoors & placed on a leaf lying on insect setting cork in which two pins had been left standing upright about an inch & a half apart. Soon after the cocoon & spider were missed from the leaf & were found suspended in the air between the two pins where the spider had constructed her suare in entire content at having formed one as perfect & regular as if she had had free choice of place and circumstance.
The ancient philosopher Lauca might well say
“Leest thou now no mortal creature can imitate the spiders web
What cunning she hath in disposing her threads
This art is borne with the spider & not learned
That which art teacheth is uncertain & unequal,
but that which nature teacheth is always uniform”
[P. 28]
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Enlarged drawing’]
Thomisus or Xysticus cristatatus
Fam. Thomisidae & derivation
A very common spider – length about ¼ inch.
Especially remarkable as an Aeronaut when young. The Revd. Gilbert White in speaking of these spiders in his Nat. Hist. of Selborne says
“Every day in fine weather in autumn do I see these spiders shooting out their webs & mounting aloft; they will goof from your finger if you take them in your hand. Last summer one alighted on my book as I was reading I the parlour; & running to the top of the page & shooting out a web, took its departure from thence. But what I most wondered at was that it went off with considerable velocity in a place where no air was stirring, and I am sure that I did not assist it with my breath. So that these little crawlers seem to have, while mounting, some locomotive power without the use of wings & move faster than the air in the air itself.”
There are some interesting details relating to this subject in the “Introduction to Entomology” by Kirkby & Spence.
The spider is pale brown & is found in early days of spring to autumn. It haunts bushes & low shrubs. In the spring it feeds on flies etc. but later in the year it feeds chiefly on young spiders.
[P. 29]
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Enlarged drawing’]
Epeira diadema
Fam. Epeiridae
This is the common Garden Spider or Geometrical Spider, the spinning of whose web we have alluded to before. Near the web the spider usually constructs a cell & from this cell a strong line runs to the centre of the web forming a bridge between his hiding place & suare. This line also informs the spider of the arrival of a victim in the web – a fact alluded to by Pope in the lines
“The Spider’s touch, how exquisitely fine
Feels at each thread & lives along the line”
The feet of this family have always three & sometimes more claws & in some species there is below the claws a strong spine which acts as a thumb & enables the animal actually to grasp its thread. But for the authority of eastern travellers & scholars who say that fact that the name translated spider is that of a lizard it would appear that this fact was known to King Solomon for you will find in the 25th verse of the 30th chapter of Proverbs
“The spider taketh hold with her hands & is in King’s Palaces”
In the revised version
“Yes she is in King’s Palaces”
Spiders are mentioned twice more in the Bible.
“Job 8.14 Whose trust shall be a spider’s web” &
“Isiah 59.5 And weave the spider’s web”
[P. 30]
In France this species is known as “The Pork Croix” or “Croix de St. Denis” in allusion no doubt to the cross on the upper side of the abdomen. The female is usually ½ inch – the male much less. Habit of disabling victims by winding threads around it. The female has also a habit of devouring the male if she can catch him at certain seasons of the year.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Enlarged drawing’]
Epeira umbratica
Another of this family is a spider of most villainous aspect. It is of large size, of a flattened crushed looking shape & dingy colour. It has a peculiar crouching gait which has caused it to be likened to a toad in miniature.
This spider is not rare but is seldom seen as it lies concealed during the day under decayed brash & in cracks & crevices in walls & railings. It has a great dislike for the light of day. It is impossible to mistake it for any other spider or, as Mr. Stanley says, to look at it without thinking of Canning’s apostrophe – “Thou lost old wretch, benighted by the noon!”
The web of this spider is remarkable for its large size & for the large size of its meshes. The female is about ½ inch – The male less.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide avicularia D’]
[P. 31]
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘F’]
Historical Spiders
You have all heard of the spider that Bruce took inspiration from & probably know Eliza Cook’s poem on the legend. In remembrance of the incident it has always been considered a foul crime for anyone of the name of Bruce to injure a spider.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Companionship & Love of Music’]
Notwithstanding all the prejudices against spiders there are many instances of persons having tamed & made companions of them. Kirby & Spence tell of a Frenchman who tamed & fed 800 spiders – Pellisson, one of the first genius of his age, found comfort during his confinement in the Bastille in the society of a spider which he not only tamed but taught to come to its food at the sound of a musical instrument.
This love of music has been shown in other instances. It has been said that spiders have come down from the ceiling during concerts returning when the music ceased & there are other recorded instances where musicians in the habit of using musical instruments at certain hours have noticed spiders make their appearance & retire when the music ceased.
A most pathetic story is told by Jules Michelet in his wonderful book on “The Insect” which I cannot do better than give you in his own words. He says one of those little victims which are trained into virtuosi before they are ….
[P. 32]
….. ripe of age – Reethome illustrious in 1800 – owed his astonishing success to the savage confinement in which he was forced to work. At eight he astounded & stupefied his hearers by his mastery of the violin. In his perpetual solitude he had a comrade whom no one suspected – a spider. It was lodged at first in a quiet corner, but it gave itself license to advance from the corner to the music stand, from the music stand to the child, even climbing upon the mobile arms which held the bow. There, a palpitating & breathless amateur, it paused & listened. It was an audience in itself. The artist needed nothing more to fill him with inspiration and double his energy. Unfortunately, the child had a stepmother who, one day, introducing an amateur into the sanctuary, saw the sensible animal at its post. A blow from her slipper annihilated the auditory. The child fell swooning to the ground, was ill for 3 months & died – heart broken!
Byron makes his “Prisoner of Chillon” say
“with spiders I had friendship made
And watched them in their sullen trade”
Note
Association of “Tarantula with Italian dance “Tarantella”
But Goethe in his “Italian Journey” says that both spiders & dance originated at Taranto & take their name from that city.
[P. 33]
Another instance of companionship is touchingly & beautifully recorded in the following old lines in “The Anthologia Borealis et Australis”
“In this wild groping dark & drearie cove
Of wife, of children & of health bereft
I hailed thee friendly spider who hadst wove
Thy mangy net on yonder mouldering raft
Would that the cleanlye housemaid’s foot had left
Thee tarrying here, nor took thy life away
For then, from out this scare ld ceilings cleft
Cause down each morn to hede my plaintive lay
Joying, like me, to hear sweet music play
Wherewith Id’ fein beguile the dull, dark, lingering day”
Finis
[P. 34]
“A”
On the Foot are two three or more curved claws which are sometimes plain & sometime toothed like a comb.
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide Calamistum’]
In some groups a longitudinal series of small closely set, curved spine-like bristles may be found on the forth pair of legs. In some it may be a double row of curved spines.
These are called calamistra & are used for the purpose of carding or combing out from a special spinning organ a peculiar adhesive gum like silk which is disposed about the web, the better to entrap the prey.
Discovered by Mr. John Blackwall.
[P. i.]
“B”
Dolomedes mirabilis
Lycosida
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide Dolomedes’]
One of our finest spiders found in well wooded parts of the country & on wild commons & heaths. This species hunts for prey, running rapidly on the ground, among grass etc. & having no habitation except under some stone or leaf. The female carries her cocoon attached to her body in all her hunting expeditions until the time approaches for the hatching of the eggs when she weaves a large sheet of close fine silk upon grasses or branches of bushes & remains in this with the young until they are able to disperse.
[P. ii.]
“C”
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Plate. Vars.of spiders’]
No. 1 – Atypus – Mugalidae
No. 2 – Lycosa picta
No. 3 – Lycosa saccate
No. 4 – Lycosa piratica
No. 5 – Dolomedes mirabilis
No. 6 – Hecarege spinimana
No. 7 – Spasus luiratus
All belong to the Lycosida or Wolf Spiders (Lukos – a wolf)
They lead an entirely vagabond life, constructing bo snares & carrying their eggs & afterwards their young on their bodies, They are extremely rapid in their movements & eager in the pursuit of their prey. They will sometimes allow themselves to be carried into the air by a large fly when attacking it, rather than relinquish their hold. The female fights boldly for the protection of her cocoon & it is said that if deprived of it she will conceal herself & die. The Lycosa pass the winter under stones etc. Or in holes in the earth.
[P. iii]
Some species hunt their prey in the water Lycosa piratica for instance & at the edge of pools. It dives for refuge from danger entangling (like Argyroneta) a supply of air in the hairs with which its abdomen is covered & sufficient to enable it to remain in the water for some time.
[P. iv]
“D”
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide. Aricularia’]
“Aricularia “ “ Mygale cancerides”
This is a representation of the Bird Spider or Bird eating spider of the Family Mygalidae.
It is a native of Surinam & was brought into notice by Madame Merian a well known naturalist. She tells us it feeds principally on ants but in their absence it drags little birds out of their nests & then as she pathetically observes “sucks all the blood out of their poor little bodies.” But she says “Persicus millie ab jutras est” so she seems to doubt the accuracy of this.
A magnificent specimen of this spider was brought from Brazil to the Insect House of the Zoological Gardens in Regents Park early this year (1893). It was fed generally on beetles & the diet varied by the addition “of an occasional live mouse or two wh. The spider killed with ease in a few bites, sucking the blood & partly devouring the bodies.”
(vide “Daily Graphic” 13 Jany. 1893)
[P. v]
Dolomedes fimbriatus
Lycosida
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide. Dolomedes fimbriatus’]
This is called the Raft Spider, one of the largest British spiders & have legs about an inch long. It belongs to the family of Hunting Spiders that spin no web but chase their prey.
It hunts not only on land but on water over the surface of which it can race with great speed. It builds its raft upon the water constructed from dry leaves & similar things fastened togr. by silk threads & on this floating residence drifting as the wind takes it this spider sits watching for unsuspecting insects coming near.
If any foe comes near Dolomedes quietly goes under the raft until the enemy be gone. It is found in marshy, fenny places & is abundant in Cambridgeshire & Huntingdonshire.
[P. vi]
Pensile nests of Spiders
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide. Pensile Nests’]
Some species of spiders build nests which are strictly pensile. One of these Agelena trunnea, which has no popular name, makes an exquisitely cocoon about ¼ in. in diameter & in shape something like an inverted wine glass. This she suspends by its stalk to one of the prickly leaves of Gorse. It is of pure white colour at first but after laying her eggs the spider closes the mouth of the cocoon & completely covers it which sticks tightly to the nest & effectually screens it from observation. The cocoon is a nest pure and simple used for the ppose. of rearing the young & devoted exclusively to them.
There are many other curious nests of spiders which may be seen in the British Museum some made out of concave seed vessels glued togr. . Some out of fragments of leaves piled in a cone on the surface of a leaf & others almost spherical with curious black bars around them hanging among branches of Heath. The specimens from which ….
[P. vii]
…..this drawing was made are in the British Museum.
Trap Door Spiders
[a note in red ink in the LH side margin reads ‘Slide. Trap Door Spiders’]
Many of the true spiders are burrowers but the Trap Door Spider of Southern Europe & Jamaica is by far the most wonderful. The tunnel is usually 6 or 8 ins. Deep & almost perpendicular. It has a double lining – the outer one thick & strong & the inner one smooth & silky.
The entrance is closed by a circular trap door whose inner surface is covered with the silky substance continuous with that which lines the pit so that the hinge of the door is entirely made if this white lining. The outer surface exactly resembles the surrounding ground. The elasticity of the material gives to this hinge the remarkable peculiarity of acting like a spring & shutting the door of the nest spontaneously.
If Mygale finds the door being gently lifted by some enemy it flies to the top, prises its hind legs into the door its forelegs to the sides of the pit & keeps the trap closed.
This spider goes abroad at night
The Revd. J. G. Wood tells us that strangers in the country …….
[P. viii]
…. Which these spiders inhabit are often surprised of seeing the ground open a little lid lifting up & a rather formidable spider peer about as if to reconnoitre the position before leaving the fortress. At the least movement on the part of the spectator, back pops the spider & often succeeds in evading the search of the astonished observer., the door fitting the orifice so accurately that the soil is apparently unbroken.
Trap Door spiders inhabit many parts of the world – the one shown here is abundant in Corsica – the slide I had made from a drawing which appeared in the Rev. Samuel Kinns’ work “Graven in the Rock.”
[P. ix]
“E”
Darwin accurate of course, speaks of the adventurous flight of the newly hatched gossamer spiders.
“So shoot the spiders brood at breezy dawn
Their glittering net work o’er the autumnal lawn
From blade to blade connect with cordage fine
The unbending pass & “live along the line”
And again in “Prince Arthur” is the line
“On the buoyant air sublimely borne”
And again in Charlotte Smith
“Small viewless aeronaut that by the line
Of gossamers suspended on mid air
Floate’s on a sun beam”
But some of the poets were in doubt for instance Quarles says
[blank]
[P. xi]
“F”
See Sir Walter Scott’s “Fair Maid of Perth” ch. II
“I will grant you my father that this Valiant burgess of Perth is one of the best hearted men that draws breath – he would be so loth in wantonness to kill a spider, as if he were a kinsman to King Robert of happy memory”
Then there is the spider which saved Mahomet.
When Mahomet fled from Mecca he hid in a certain cave & his pursuers the Koreishites were close upon him – Suddenly an acacia in full leaf sprang up at the mouth of the cave, a wood pigeon had its nest in the branches, & a spider had woven its net between the tree & the cave. When the Koreishites saw this they felt persuaded that no one could have recently passed that was & went on.
[P. xii]
Order of Slides
1. On cobweb
2. Eyes
3. Mouth
4. Foot
5. Calamistrum
6. Spinnerets
7. Web
8. Web
9. Dolomedes murabilis
10. Varieties of spiders
11. Water spiders
12. Avicularia
13. Raft of Dolomedes fimbriatus
14. Pensile nest of spiders
15. Trap Door Spiders
[P. xiii]
Back Cover
Notes on British Spiders
Paper read by W. Robinson
before The Barnsley Naturalists
Scientific Society on the 23rd
January 1893
And (with additions & slides)
before Barnsley Literary Society
on the 7th November 1893.
W.R.
Also to All Saints’ Darfield
Mutual Improvement Association
on 9th January 1894
W.R.
Also before St George’s Men’s Society
on Thursday 16th Novr. 1905