334 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



manner in which their instinct enables them to overcome unexpected 

 difficulties when they occur. A mole, as it is said, was suspended to 

 the upper end of a stick fixed firmly in the ground, and the scent of 

 the carcass soon attracted the ' Sextons,' who appeared at first much 

 disconcerted by the situation of the coveted supply of provender for 

 their future progeny. After a kind of consultation, however, which 

 appears to have been very much to the point, they proceeded to un- 

 dermine the stick, which, yielding to a few hours' unceasing labor, 

 at last fell, and the prize was secured and duly interred after the 

 usual fashion." 



INTERESTING ILLUSTRATION OF ANIMAL INSTINCT. 



Dr. Asa Fitch, the well-known American entomologist, has re- 

 cently published the following curious and well-attested story, illus- 

 trative of the instinctive skill and sagacity of the common house- 

 spider. The incident occurred in a store in the village of Havana, 

 Chemung County, New York, and is authenticated by a great num- 

 ber of witnesses. 



An ordinary-looking spider of a dark color, its body not larger than 

 that of a common house fly, had taken up its residence, it appears, 

 on the under side of a shelf beneath the counter of the store in ques- 

 tion. What may we suppose was the surprise and consternation of 

 this little animal on discovering a snake, about a foot long, selecting 

 for its abode the floor underneath, only two or three spans distant 

 from its nest? It was a common silk snake, which, perhaps, had 

 been brought into the store unseen in a quantity of sawdust with 

 which the floor had been recently " carpeted." The spider was well 

 aware, no doubt, that it would inevitably fall a prey to the snake 

 monster the first time it should incautiously venture within its reach. 

 We should expect that, to avoid such a doom, it would forsake its 

 present abode, and seek a more secure retreat elsewhere. But it is 

 not improbable that a brood of its eggs or young was secreted near 

 the spot, which the parent foresaw would fall a prey to the enemy if 

 they were abandoned by their natural guardian and protector. We 

 can conceive of no other motive which should have induced the spider 

 so pertinaciously to remain and defend that particular spot, at the im- 

 minent risk of her own life, when she could so easily have fled and 

 established herself in some secure corner elsewhere. But how, we 

 may well ask, was it possible for such a weak, tender little creature 

 to combat such a powerful mail-clad giant? Her ordinary resort, 

 that of fettering and binding her victim, by throwing her threads of 

 cobwebs around it, it is plain would be of no more avail here than the 

 cords upon the limbs of the unshorn Samson. .... 



By what artifice the spider was able in the first of its attack to ac- 

 complish what it did, we can only conjecture, as its work was not dis- 

 covered until the most difficult and daring part of its feat had been 

 performed. When first seen, it had placed a loop around the neck 

 of the serpent, from the top of which a single thread was carried up- 

 ward and attached to the under side of the shelf, whereby the head 

 of the serpent was drawn up about two inches from the floor. The 

 snake was moving around and around incessantly, in a circle as large 



