Ch. II.] REMARKABLE CASE OF IXSTIXCT. 19 



driving before tliem their prey to the ends of the small 

 twigs, when nothing remained for them but to leap, and 

 they would alight in the very throng of their foes, with 

 the result of being certainly caught and pulled to pieces. 

 Many of the spiders would escape by hanging suspended 

 by a thread of silk from the branches, safe from the foes 

 that swarmed both above and below. 



I noticed that spiders generally were most intelligent 

 in escaping, and did not, like the cockroaches and other 

 insects, take shelter in the first hiding-place they found, 

 only to be driven out again, or perhaps caught by the 

 advancing army of ants. I have often seen large spiders 

 making off many yards in advance, and apparently 

 determined to put a good distance between themselves 

 and the foe. I once saw one of the false spiders, or 

 harvest-men (Phalangidce), standing in the midst of an 

 army of ants, and with the greatest circumspection and 

 .coolness lifting, one after the other, its long legs, which 

 supported its body above their reach. Sometimes as 

 many as five out of its eight legs would be lifted at once, 

 and whenever an ant approached one of those on which 

 it stood, there was always a clear space within reach to 

 put down another, so as to be able to hold up the 

 threatened one out of clanger. 



I was much more surprised with the behaviour of a 

 green, leaf-like locust. This insect stood immovably 

 amongst a host of ants, many of which ran over its legs, 

 without ever discovering there was food within their 

 reach. So fixed was its instinctive knowledge that its 

 safety depended on its immovability, that it allowed me 

 to pick it up and replace it amongst the ants without 

 making a single effort to escape. This species closely 



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