HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



the few trees likely to be in the way and leaving the 

 ground as Nature made it — the palm trunk to which 

 the web was attached at one end stood just within 

 the rough boundarj' railings, an old mahogany tree 

 stretched its gnarled branches over half the other side 

 for the further moorings, so, about twenty-five feet 

 was its length, its depth six, and it was so far over- 

 head that I could just touch its lower edge with my 

 whip as I rode beneath. Being near mid-day it was 

 untenanted, but the threads were littered with moth- 

 wings and other remains of insects, but I noticed that 

 small birds flew through it without hesitation. 



From time to time I saw other examples, some 

 larger than the first, but there was ever one point not 

 a little mysterious about them ; I had noted in the 

 evening, perhaps, a perfect web crowded with the 

 busy workers ; the next day not a trace of it was to 

 be seen ! There may have been wind, but in any 

 case one would have expected that some part of its 

 delicate tracery would have been found clinging to 

 the trees ; but no — web, spiders, and all had dis- 

 appeared into the unknown, and it was long before 

 I could trace what had become of them. 



During the lilockade of Asuncion, however, by the 

 Brazilians, I had a better opportunity than I could have 

 hoped for to study the economy of these strange 

 colonies. I was then living with the United States 

 minister in a very large house, having, as is the 

 fashion in that part of the world, an enclosed garden, 

 the patio, in its centre ; and there I found to my 

 delight six of these wonderful webs one morning. 

 And with that sublime reasoning we call instinct they 

 were all close to the ground, were moored to it, in 

 fact, by a hundred hawsers. Over the roads they 

 were never less than twelve feet from the ground and, 

 so, must have missed numbers of moths which fly 

 lower, but, then, they permitted horsemen and the 

 high bullock-carts to pass freely beneath. 



But this rather forlorn garden was rarely entered 

 except by myself and a stooping crone, the mother 

 of one of the native servants, the usual path was 

 under the shade of the n^assive piazzas which enclosed 

 it ; so the spiders and I examined each other at our 

 mutual leisure and convenience. But they seemed to 

 take very little notice of me, and a double stream 

 would be passing up and down the main cables within 

 three inches of my hand-glass with untroubled in- 

 difference. 



The spiders seem to belong to the Epeira, but are 

 twice as large as our largest specimens ; black, with 

 the exception of a double row of scarlet spots on the 

 sides of the oval abdomen, four eyes (says the im- 

 perfect note amongst my rifled papers), but I think it 

 should be, four at the top of the head (cephalo-thorax) ; 

 two lateral, very strong mandibles, and eight stout, 

 smooth legs nearly an inch in length. 



In the centre of the patio was a clump of orange 

 and peach trees — which there reach quite forest size — 

 and others at a distance of some forty feet : between 



these the welis were extended, the majority in the 

 usual horizontal position, but one obliquely, a rhom- 

 boid, with one angle touching the ground. The main 

 rigging was of stout grey silk, as strong as that with 

 which purses used to.be netted, these were crossed at 

 right angles by threads more slender, dividing the 

 surface into squares of about nine inches each, which 

 were filled by a geometrical weblet resembling that 

 spun by our own garden spiders. These did not seem 

 to be regarded as personal property, for the occupants ■ 

 often changed their location, and a double stream was 

 ever passing, as I have said, along the main lines, 

 crawling over or under each other, and never pausing 

 as ants do when they meet for gossip or petty larceny ;. 

 but I noticed that the occupant of the centre of the 

 lesser webs would give it a quick, impatient shake 

 whenever a companion ventured to leave the public 

 gangways : yet I have seen three or four feeding 

 amicably together on the bqdy of a large moth. 



As soon as the sun became hot the webs were 

 quite deserted, and the spiders collected in globular 

 masses under the shade of the leaves of the orange 

 trees until evening. But at sunset these crumbled to- 

 pieces and the spiders in the most leisurely way dis- 

 persed to their aerial fishing grounds. Great numbers, 

 of mosquitoes and other minute insects were caught,, 

 but these were brushed away ; moths, beetles, and 

 migrating ants — which are temporarily provided with 

 wings — being the chief and most valued prey. I 

 satisfied myself, too, that they did not merely suck 

 their juices as our spiders do, but ate the whole of the 

 soft parts, which their strong maxilla; made easy 

 enough. I many times let them strike their fangs 

 into my finger, but felt no pain beyond the slight 

 prick of the keen points. 



But the oddest trait was that they ate any ]3art of 

 the web which had been torn loose ; the nearest 

 spider rolled it up into a ball, moistened it with saliva, 

 and immediately swallowed it. And that explains 

 what becomes of part, if not all, of the old ones. 



I was long puzzled by the difficulty, how was the 

 first thread thrown from tree to tree? The spiders 

 were far too solid to float through the air, and as for 

 fastening the line to a branch, descending the trunk, 

 ascending another and dragging the line after them, as 

 the natives assured me they did, that was clearly im- 

 possible. But one evening I was fortunate enough to 

 see it done. There was an iron arch over the mouth 

 of the algibe — the Moorish tank — in the patio and at 

 its summit I saw a spider busily weaving a light 

 tangled ball of silk as large as itself, a current of air 

 caught it and it floated away nearly to the top of a 

 tree ten yards away and caught, the spider gave it 

 two or three tugs to be sure of it, and then with the 

 utmost nonchalance crawled away to a height which 

 would be to us as that of St. Paul's, soon came back, 

 was joined by some companions and in less than 

 an hour the bridge was made, and a new web 

 commenced. 



