They may appear to be passively relaxing, but they are actually feeling for aquatic insects, tadpoles or even tiny fish. A six-spotted fishing spider sits on a lily pad in August. Note the front legs ...

Well, I’ll probably lose the love of the arachnophobes with this column. As arachnophobia afflicts about 6% of the population, my readership might shrink by a few people. But if you’ve read this far ...

Arachnophobia, the irrational fear of spiders, is widespread. Some estimates claim that about 6% of the population are arachnophobes. If you are one, my apologies for this column. But you’ve probably ...