128 SPIDERS [CH. 



most of their enemies except man himself are 

 excluded, and where they are sheltered from the 

 storms which are so fatal to their relatives outside, 

 protected from extremes of temperature, and rendered 

 so independent of times and seasons that the number 

 of broods they produce in the year has increased. 

 Whether a creature is useful or injurious is entirely a 

 matter of the point of view. There are several animals 

 with regard to which the opinions of the farmer and 

 the gamekeeper are diametrically opposed ! 



But if anything emerges from the study in which 

 we have been engaged, it is surely this fact : that 

 wherever there is a niche in nature capable of 

 sustaining life, to that niche some animal will sooner 

 or later adapt itself without any reference to man's 

 desires or interests. We have seen spiders, all built 

 on the same ground-plan, so to speak, and with the 

 same essential organs, so modified in the details of 

 structure and inherited instincts as to be able to 

 thrive under the most diverse conditions. Think, for 

 instance, of the water- spider and the desert Tarantula, 

 or consider the difference in mode of life between 

 the sedentary garden-spider and the hunting Attid. 



Incessant competition in the struggle for life no 

 doubt urged on primeval spiders to strike out new 

 modes of existence. Under slightly novel conditions 



/ 



the best adapted or most adaptable survived and 

 were pioneers in the occupation of a new territory 



