220 NATURE STUDY REVIEW [9:7— Oct., 1913 



a web and by its struggles bring the spider to it. She climbs round 

 and round the victim, covering it with a broad, sticky thread which 

 holds it tightly; then after biting it to kill it she returns to her 

 lookout in the center of the web to await more prey. I have seen a 

 large grasshopper jump into a web and get his head tightly wound 

 up but he could not be held by his legs because he kicked so vigor- 

 ously. Again and again he kicked off the thread but is finally 

 exhausted and struggling weakly is bound up closely. The orb- 

 spider encloses its eggs in large numbers in a round case about as 

 large as a marble and hangs it on a bush. I have opened one of 

 these cases in the middle of winter and found the eggs already 

 hatched and a multitude of tiny spiders resting in it. These 

 spiders drop from their webs to the ground when disturbed and I 

 have caught most of mine by placing a cyanide jar under them and 

 touching them, when they drop straight down into the jar; in this 

 way I can catch thirty or forty an hour, where they are numerous. 

 The dragon-fly is an insect which is little known and appreciated. 

 It is commonly called darning-needle and is supposed to have the 

 power to sew up children's ears. Despite a belief to the contrary 

 there is no insect less harmful to a person. It cannot bite, sting or 

 hurt in any way, an>1;hing, except the small flying insects it lives 

 on. These are caught and eaten while on the wing and it is while 

 hunting food that these insects are most beautiful, sweeping, 

 darting and turning over meadow or pond, their bluish or greenish 

 bodies glistening in the sunlight. They are noted for their flying 

 abilities; often when I have swung a net at one it seems as though 

 he has turned at right angles and is next caught sight of flfty feet 

 away. Their large compound eyes permit them to see in every 

 direction and increase the difficulties of catching them. One day 

 I got one more easily than usual and thinking it might have a 

 broken wing I cautiously looked into the net and saw that the 

 cause for an easy captiire was the fact that it had been eating an 

 insect and was probably not paying much attention to things 

 around. The little winged bug was still held tightly in its front 

 legs and would soon have been finished. In the spring the female 

 dragon-fly swooping closely over the water's surface dips in the 

 end of her abdomen at short intervals and deposits an egg. In due 

 time this hatches into a "nymph," which lives in the water for some 

 time and then climbs into dry land and changes to an adult. 



