India, April 5 -- Spiders and their perplexing webs attract more than just ignorance. They are frequently viewed through the prism of superstition, as omens foretelling death, and, of course, as the anathema of orderly house-keeping. A scientific understanding of spiders is of the lowest order of priority in the imposing hierarchy. Take the huntsman spiders of which an impressive specimen was photographed on the door of the lady's loo at Antler Woods, a nature retreat at Siswan. This is a large spider, which does not weave webs but hunts cockroaches, moths, crickets, lizards, etc., using speed and agility. It outruns prey, pins it down with a "web of legs", and injects venom. So, not only are spiders bio-agents for pest control with respect to agriculture, horticulture and vegetation but they keep our homes and loos free of the invasion of such creepy-crawlies as cockroaches. Nothing is left to the imagination of a washroom scene where cockroaches, unchecked by spider predation, slip between and up the proverbial fair ankles with impunity and a bristly brush, the resultant shrieks heard halfway down the neighbourhood! Huntsmen are known for being non-aggressive towards humans though they can look dangerous to the uninitiated eye that relies on "mohalla myths" to fuel negative attitudes towards creatures as reviled as serpents, lizards and spiders. "How apt that you found this character in the washroom; they are apex predators in these human-made microhabitats, often preying on cockroaches. The common name, "huntsman", applies to the entire Sparassidae family, which comprises nearly 1,400 species of spiders," Samuel John of 'Spiders and The Sea', whose noble aim is to bridge the gap between people and nature, told this writer....