THE STRENGTH OF SPIDERS AND SPIDER-WEBS. 43 



for a period of more than three years ! How much longer it 

 might have faithfully performed the same service I know not, as 

 it then became necessary to break this admirable bond, to make 

 some changes in the clock. Here it will be seen that the same 

 web was expanded and contracted each second during the whole 

 period, and yet never, so far as could be observed, lost any portion 

 of its elasticity." 



At various times there have been placed on record accounts of 

 the capture by spiders of small vertebrate animals, as snakes, mice, 

 and birds. Popular stories to the same effect have from time to 

 time been sent the rounds of the daily press, and found utterance 

 and often illustration, the latter sometimes of a most original and 

 remarkable character, in popular magazine literature. The great 

 seeming disparity, in such cases, between the size and vigor of 

 captive and prisoner ; the confusion of the various narratives in 

 details as to the species and behavior of the spider, and the charac- 

 teristics of her snare ; the radical departure from known food 

 habit of species that are insectivorous ; together with the fact that 

 the accounts all have come from lay observers, have been more or 

 less lacking in scientific accuracy and minuteness of detail, and 

 wholly without scientific verification — these considerations have 

 caused such records and reports to be discredited by arachnologists 

 and naturalists generally. But there are a few cases, confirmed 

 by circumstantial evidence, and reported by observers of good 

 reputation and careful habit, which deserve notice. 



The physical powers of the Lycosidce, the popular running, 

 ground, or wolf spiders, are well illustrated by an instance recorded 

 in the proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia. The result as reported was achieved by pure strength 

 and activity, without any of the mechanical advantages of a 

 snare. Mr. Spring, while walking with a friend in a swampy 

 wood, which was pierced by a dike three feet wide, was attracted 

 by the extraordinary movements of a large black spider in the 

 middle of a ditch. Closer examination showed that the creature 

 had caught a fish ! She had fastened upon it with a deadly grip 

 just on the forward side of the dorsal fin, and the poor fish was 

 swimming round and round slowly, or twisting its body as if in 

 pain (Fig. 2). The head of its black enemy was sometimes almost 

 pulled under water, but the strength of the fish would not permit 

 an entire submersion. It moved its fins as if exhausted, and often 

 rested. Finally it swam under a floating leaf near the shore and 

 made a vain effort to dislodge the spider by scraping against the 

 under side of the leaf. 



The two had now closely approached the bank. Suddenly the 

 long black legs of the spider emerged from the water, and the 

 hinder ones reached out and fastened upon the irregularities of 



