Spiders. 



wasn't a very big fish, I grant you, if one may go by the 

 picture in the book, but it was a fish, and that is wonder- 



ful enough in itself. 



Comparatively few spiders spin webs, though. Most 

 of them hunt their prey and regularly run it down. Also, 

 they have to look out for themselves, for spiders are re- 



mt%:?**" - 



Fig. -3,2. Dolomede spider, capturing a fish. 



garded as good eating by the most discriminating epi- 

 cures of the animal kingdom. So some of them line 

 holes in the ground with silk for their homes. Some- 

 times their own bodies do for the front door. They are 

 shaped like a champagne cork, and as they crawl in tight 

 there is nothing for the robber to take hold of. It is like 

 trying to open a bottle with your fingers when the cork 

 is driven home. Others have hinged doors covered with 

 moss, so that they will not attract notice, but if you are 

 inclined to marvel at the intelligence of these little ani- 

 mals, pray suspend judgment a moment. Moggridge 

 took away the moss-covered lid of one of these homes 

 and dug up all the earth around. The spider made a new 

 lid and put moss on it, though thereby she made it the 

 most conspicuous object in the neighborhood. 



