Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson CXVI · Topic 18: Daddy-longlegs and spiders
116. The nests of spiders
Goal: Your child can find spider egg-sacs, describe how they are made and placed to protect the eggs, and follow one through the winter.
You'll need
- A field with goldenrod and tall weeds in fall, or the sides of stones
- A bit of bright yarn to mark a spot
- A hand lens (magnifying glass)
- A nature notebook and a pencil (colored pencils if you have them)
What's in the book
Comstock's story of how spider mothers protect their eggs: silk sacs of many shapes, a silvery disk on a stone that looks like a lichen, waterproof outer coats and soft linings. Lesson CXVI gives the leading thought, method and three questions, with a photograph of the garden spider's egg-sac on goldenrod. This is the last lesson on animals; Part III, Plant Life, begins on the next page.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Comstock: "This is a good lesson for September and October." The easiest sac to find and recognize is the black and yellow garden spider's: a brown, papery, jug-shaped sac about an inch long, hung among goldenrod or tall weeds. Look on the sides of stones in fields for small flat silvery disks too. In grass and woods, wear long pants tucked into socks, and check everyone for ticks when you get home.
A change from the book
Comstock's method asks children to collect egg-sacs and open some to count the eggs. We leave them closed: opening a sac kills the eggs.
Don't collect sacs from dark corners, sheds or woodpiles, where they may belong to a black widow. Spider safety: never pick up a spider you don't know. Look with a hand lens from a few inches away, touch webs only with a grass stem or a pencil, and never reach into a dark corner, woodpile or shed where you can't see.
Keep the big idea in mind
Comstock's "leading thought" is the one idea the lesson is meant to lead to. Read it to yourself now, and save it to share at the end, after your child has looked and answered:
The spider mothers have many interesting ways of protecting their eggs, which they envelop in silken sacs and place in safety.
Where is it?
In what situation did you find the nest? How was it protected from rain and snow? To what was it attached?
What is it made of?
Look closely with the lens; touch only the outside, gently.
Of what texture is the outside of the sac? Is the outside made of waterproof silk? What is the texture of the lining?
Read Comstock's description of the silvery disk on a stone, with its smooth waterproof top and soft, downy nest below.
Mark it and wait
Tie the yarn to a stem near the sac (not to the sac itself). Visit it in winter and again in spring.
When do the spiderlings hatch? Do as many spiders come out of the sac as there were eggs? Why is this?
Then read the leading thought aloud.
Nature notebook
Draw each kind of egg-sac you found, life size, with where it was. Leave space on the page to add the date the spiderlings come out in spring.
Afterwards
This lesson ends the Animal Life part of the book. Look back through the nature notebook together and let your child choose a favorite page to show someone.