824 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



as an ant approached it, keeping a very sharp eye out, and never 

 allowing one of the enemy to get near enough to touch him. 

 Sometimes he had five legs in the air, and, if an ant came near 

 one of the three on which he rested, he could always find space to 

 put down one of the others to complete his tripod, while he lifted 

 the threatened one high above the head of his tormentor a won- 

 derful exhibition of intelligence as well as presence of mind." 



Passing under a tree on some bright morning in summer, one 

 may chance to come upon three tiny balls on a thread of silk. 

 They are as alike as beads on a string, and seem to be bits of rub- 

 bish wound with silk ; but, like the balls of " my uncle," they are 

 a trap for the unwary. Examine them. The upper one, easiest 

 to reach, is the bundle of rubbish it looks to be ; the lower one, 

 also convenient to reach, is the same ; but, touch the middle one, 

 and out shall rush its owner, indignantly demanding by every 

 movement what you mean by disturbing her. It is her castle, 

 and behind its hinged door she lies in wait for the minute creat- 

 ures that she eats, while enemies that would devour her on sight 

 pass her ingenious home without suspicion. 



A still more curious maker of balls " with intent to deceive " 

 lives in New Jersey, and has been described by Mrs. Mary Treat. 

 She constructs her balls of loose masses of her own silk, covered 

 with bits of rubbish, even the cast-off garments of the insects 

 she has eaten cut into atoms and scattered over them. Of these 

 images she prepares several, fastened in a line through the web, 

 with a vacancy for herself. The color is gray and white, and so 

 closely do the balls resemble her that when she takes her place 

 among them one can hardly tell which is spicier and which imi- 

 tation. What is strange, and proves all this to be an intentional 

 disguise for herself, the balls are always of her own size ; when she 

 is small they are so, and as she grows she adds to her " doubles." 

 The same policy protects her cocoons, strung along beside the 

 queer, spider-like objects. It requires the sharp eyes of a natu- 

 ralist to detect them. 



If the spider is a good hater, none the less is she a warm friend. 

 She is quite willing to be friendly with man, and many accounts 

 are on record of her pleasant relations with prisoners. In this close 

 acquaintance her individuality and character come out. A story is 

 told of one who appeared to be wanting in a sense of humor (as 

 others of her sex are said to be). She did not relish a joke, and 

 peremptorily declined to be made game of. The relater had cul- 

 tivated her friendship so successfully that she readily came to him 

 and took flies from his hand. After some weeks of this amicable 

 understanding he began to tease her. He offered a fly as usual, 

 and, when his small friend came confidently forward to take it, he 

 snatched it away. The first time she evidently thought it an acci- 



