238 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



fly, around whicli the cord had been wound as a windlass, with which the 

 snake had been hauled up. A great number of threads were fastened to 



the cord above and to the rolling side of this ball, to keep it (as 

 A Spider ^^le observers thought) from unwinding and so letting the snake 

 , down. It was conjectured that the cord must have extended 



from the focus of the web to the shelf below, where the snake was 

 lying when first captured, and being made fast to the loop in his tail, was 

 then carried up to the fly about midway of the cord. By rolling the fly 

 over and over, the cord was wound around it, both from above and below, 

 and the snake gradually hoisted until its head was one inch or more above 

 the shelf. In this situation the snake hung alive for several days (three 

 according to one statement, five according to another), when the web was 

 broken by careless observers so as to allow part of the snake's body to rest 

 upon the shelf below. Thus the serpent remained, unnoticed by the spi- 

 ders after its fall, until eight days after its discovery, when some large 

 ants were found devouring the dead body. 



The witnesses state that when the snake was first observed " several 

 large spiders were upon him sucking his juices ; " that it " furnished a 

 continued feast for several large spiders," until its fall ; that " during 

 the day no spiders were visible in or about the web, but at night there 

 were three, much smaller than the common fly, seen feeding upon the 

 body of the snake." 



One might well be excused for withholding credence from such a story, 

 although the acts were vouched for by abundance of respectable lay testi- 

 mony. Accepting the account as true, or at least probable, I would make 

 the following inferences : first, the description of the web, although suffi- 

 ciently indefinite, leaves little doubt that the snake was originally taken 

 in a snare of a species of Tube weaver, and most probably by the Medicinal 

 spider, Tegenaria medicinalis, Hentz.^ The broad sheeted web of this 



spider is frequently found in cellars, which are favorite haunts. 

 ^^^° It builds near windows, in the angles and along the sides of 



,, walls, having its tubular den in a crack or opening laid along 



Snake? ^^^ angle. The sheet is usually drawn upward until its exterior 



margin is higher than the plane of the entrance of the tube. 

 There is thus formed a sort of pouch within which insects often fall 

 and so are readily captured by the spider, who mounts guard at the door 

 of her den. Over the door the tube frequently rises into a sort of tower. 

 (Fig. 221.) The webs of this species are sometimes of considerable length — 

 eighteen or twenty inches — and those which have been standing for some 

 time will be found overlaid by several successive thicknesses of silken 

 sheeting, discolored by the soot and dust of the cellar. A specimen of 

 this material may readily be taken and mounted upon white cardboard, 



' Probably the T. Diirluuui of Euroi)e. 



