Last week we reviewed some interesting things about spiders. However, there wasn’t enough space to tell about one called the Triangle Spider, which makes a three-sided web shaped like a triangle with a tail hanging down from the bottom. The spider holds tightly to this tail to keep the web open. The moment an insect touches the triangle, it lets go of the tail, and the web, springing like a trap, captures the victim.
Then there is the Bola which catches its dinners by fishing. Instead of spinning a web, it produces one long thread with a sticky ball on the end. It sits on a branch and drops this line down, swinging it back and forth until an insect flies into the ball. Then it pulls up the thread, just like reeling in a fishing line, and enjoys its meal.
Most female spiders have a bad habit of eating their partners, but the males have ways of guarding against this. If a male wishes to make friends with a female, he vibrates the edge of the web with one of his feet. The female is immediately alerted. If she is hungry, she crosses the web, and that’s a signal for the male to make a quick exit. But if the female remains quiet, he senses she has already eaten and he goes to her, sometimes bringing a little present. However, he never stays long or he will have to pay for his visit with his life. This is why one species is known as the Black Widow, because she almost always kills and devours her mate.
On mornings after a heavy dew or frost, spider webs easily catch our attention, because their lovely shapes stand out so plainly. At times they look like many white handkerchiefs spread on the ground.
Flying spiders point their abdomens toward the sky and spin webs that act like parachutes. When the wind catches one of these, the spider holds on tightly, and off it goes on a real adventure. Sometimes they are lifted thousands of feet in the air and are carried over oceans and mountains to land elsewhere.
One more attracts our attention. This is the Crab Spider, which crawls into petals of flowers and waits for an insect to come. Then it lassoes its prey like a cowboy, throwing silk threads over its wings and legs to make it secure.
The many spiders all over the world and their amazing ways remind us of the wonders of God’s creation. They show us that the little things, as well as the big things of life, are all under His watchful care. In Hebrews 4:1313Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (Hebrews 4:13) we read: “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
It is well for us to remember that we, too, are under His care, and that “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” Proverbs 15:33The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. (Proverbs 15:3). How happy it is to know Him as our Saviour and to give all our cares to Him.
ML-07/05/1981