502 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



those close-spun, flat, button- shaped objects, about half an inch 

 in diameter, which are so common in winter on the under side 

 of bark, chunks, and flat rocks. Others are balloon-shaped and 

 attached to weeds. "Within the latter the young spiders often 

 hatch in early winter, make their first meal off their empty egg 

 cases, and then live together in hunger and harmony until the 

 south winds blow again, when they emerge and scatter far and 

 wide in search of sustenance. 



The "wandering" spiders never spin webs, but run actively 

 about and pounce upon their prey with a tiger-like spring. Six 

 or eight of the larger species of this group winter in the mature 

 form beneath logs and chunks, being often frozen solid during 

 cold weather, but thawing out as healthy as ever when the tem- 

 perature rises. Retiring beneath the loose-fitting bark of hickory 

 or maple trees, a number of the smaller tube- weaving spiders con- 

 struct about themselves a protecting web of many layers of the 

 finest silk. Within this snug retreat they lie from November 

 until April a handsome, small, black fellow, with green jaws 

 and two orange spots on his abdomen, being the most common 

 species found motionless within this seeming shroud of silk on a 

 day in midwinter. 



In any Northern State as many as four hundred different 

 kinds of the six-footed or true insects, in the winged or adult 

 stage, may be taken in winter by any one who is so disposed, and 

 knows where to search for them. Among the Orthoptera there 

 are a half dozen or more grasshoppers which, when full grown, 

 are less than half an inch in length, gray or blackish in color, 

 and with the hard upper crust of the thorax extending the full 

 length of the body and covering the wings. They are called 

 "grouse grasshoppers," and daring cold weather they hide be- 

 neath the loose bark of logs, or beneath the bottom rails of the 

 old Virginia worm fences. From these retreats every warm, 

 sunny day tempts them forth in numbers. On such occasions 

 the earth seems to swarm with them, as they leap before the 

 intruder, their hard bodies striking the dead leaves with a 

 sound similar to that produced by falling hail. The common 

 field cricket belongs also to the Orthojytera, and the young of 

 various sizes winter under rails and logs, bidding defiance to 

 Jack Frost from within a little burrow or pit beneath the pro- 

 tecting shelter. 



The true bugs, or Hemiptera, hibernate in similar places; 

 squash bugs, chinch bugs, " stink " bugs, and others being easily 

 found in numbers beneath loose bark or hidden between the root 

 leaves of mullein and other plants. 



Nearly three hundred species of Coleoptera, or beetles, occupy 

 similar positions. Almost any rotten log or stump when broken 



