My sister knew the scientific name and she said they are good for the garden too. Never have I see one in my years. Here's a little info from Spiderz Rule: Black and Yellow Argiope - Argiope Aurantia This lovely spider only has a short life span and once she has produced one or more (usually no more than 3) brown, papery egg sacs, she will die. The egg sacs are roughly round in shape and up to 25 mm in diameter; each contains 300 to 1400 eggs. She attaches her egg sacs to one side of her web, close to her resting position at the centre. Each female will watch over her eggs as long as she can, but will die in the first hard frost, if not before. The eggs hatch in Autumn ( fall), but spiderlings stay in the sac during winter and emerge in spring. There is also a silver argiope which differs in that it has a metallic silver back. Dax

tomatofreak Thats Ascaryious pronounced A-Scary-ious.lol We have hundreds of lizards that eat insects for us. My wife kills all spiders. She fears them and hates them with a passion. We call her The Spider Hunter.

When I went to check on her a few days ago, she was gone! The web is gone and so is the spider! Acording to what I have read she was supposed to lay her egg sac and then as the weather cools she becomes frail and usually dies about the time of the first hard frost. We did have some cool nights last week, cool enough to put blankets back on the bed, but we certainly have not had our first hard frost! That should happen sometime between 9/24 to 10/6. I know that the chances of her coming inside are slim; but I couldn't help but check all corners of the inside of the house the last few days! I can't see an egg sac, but she did build her web right next to a large Clematis montana Rubens, so lots of leaf coverage to hide in. As much as I want to tidy this bed and start building a cold-frame; I think I will work on other areas of the garden and wait until long after the first frost, so I know that spider is history! Kat

I have seen the baby spiders hatch out and fly off into the great big world. In spring, one a warm sunny day when their is a nice breeze blowing, if you are lucky, you can see them hatch out all at once. There are hundreds, if not thousands of t-tintsy spiders, hardly more than a speck of dust to the naked eye. They shoot out thousands of silken threads and ride off on them in the wind. Birds and frogs gobble them up, but some live and grow and the next year, in late summer you will see them again in your garden - giants by comparison. ogrose, I have quite literally, but certainly by accident, stuck my head into their webs while gardening many times. The spider just scoots over and waits for me to exit. Never had one become aggressive with me. My children used to love them, giving them names. They were greatly influenced by Charlotte's Web. I always taught them to be curious about Nature, but cautious. Look but don't touch. Study it, observe and learn from other creatures. Of course, they often DID touch. :)