30/10/2026
This Halloween we’re raising a glass to the original spider man!
York describes itself as Europe’s most haunted city. We don’t know about that, but we do know it’s the birthplace of spider science. Nearly 350 years ago, local doctor Martin Lister wrote Historiae Animalium Angliae Tres Tractatus, or Three Tracts on English Animal History. The first was on spiders and is regarded as the foundation text of arachnology.
Lister identified 38 different types of English spider and was confident he hadn’t missed any. Scientists now think there are over 600! Nonetheless many of his observations were new and his descriptions very accurate. He even climbed to the top of York Minster to prove that spiderlings (baby spiders) could fire out silk ‘and undertake an ascent into the sky through the topmost clouds.’ He was the first person to observe that spiders could disperse in this way.
Lister’s work wasn’t actually translated into English until 1992, but is a fascinating, ground-breaking piece of work. Perfect Halloween reading!
