120 SPIDERS [CH. 



to cling to, but it is supreme as a rope walker, tread- 

 ing daintily on the most delicate threads, mounting a 

 line "hand over hand" with great agility, and mani- 

 pulating the silk in its various spinning operations 

 with unerring skill and facility. 



CHAPTER XIV 



THE ENEMIES OF SPIDERS 



WHEN one comes to consider the multitudinous 

 risks to which a spider is exposed during the whole 

 course of its life it seems at first a little surprising that 

 the whole tribe has not long ago been exterminated. 

 Spiders continue to flourish, however, and it is very 

 clear that however careless Nature may be of the 

 individual she is extremely solicitous about the 

 race. 



The infant mortality among these creatures must 

 be appalling. There is first their cannibalistic pro- 

 pensity to be reckoned with. Xewly hatched spiders 

 while still within the cocoon seldom attack each 

 other, but as soon as ever each sets up for itself, no 

 quarter is given. It often happens that members of 

 a brood of sedentary spiders spin their first snares in 

 close contiguity, and if food is scarce they eat one 

 another without compunction. It is said that a few 



