IS 



o A NATURALHISTORY 



their PafTage ; there being often manifeft Signs of Slaughter, as 

 Legs and Wings of FHes. ... on thefe Lines, as in their Webs 

 below *. 



Spiders have been obferved to get to the Top of a Branch 

 or fuch like thing, Avhere they exercife this darting of Threads 

 into the Air. After the firft Flight, all the time of their failing 

 on thofe Threads, they make Locks, ftill darting forth frefli Sup- 

 plies of Thread to fport and fiil by. N. B, Thofe called Shep- 

 herds, or long-legg'd Spiders, are no Spinners. 



I H A V E feen Spiders, fays :hs learned Dr. Hul/e -f-, flioot their 

 Webs three Yards long before they begin to fail upon them. So 

 the learned Derbam obferves, that with pleafure he had often 

 feen Spiders dart out their Webs, and fail away by the Help 

 thereof. 



^ ME RICA turns out diverfe kinds of thefe araneous Li- 

 fed;s : In Peru are Spiders as large as a Man's Hand, and have 

 Eyes as big as thofe of Sparrows. In Brafil there is one kind of 

 Spider, whofe Skin is rough and black, and whofe Sling proves 

 incurable, without immediate Relief On the other hand, we 

 read ofmonftrous Spiders in t\\Q Antilles, whofe Eyes are fo fmall 

 'and deep in the Head, that they are fcarcely vifible : They feed 

 on flying Infecfls, and their V/ebs are flrong enough to catch fmall 

 Birds X 



C E TL N m the Eafi-Indies produces a long, glittering, and 

 .hairy Spider, called Detnoculo, whofe Wound is not mortal, but 

 fometimes deprives People of their Senfes. There is an Experi- 

 ment made by Mr. Ijee%venhoeck, who put a Frog and Spider to- 

 gether into a Glafs, and having made the Spider fling the Frog 

 diverfe times, the Frog died in about an Hour's time ||. 



There is another Inftance of the Poifon of fome of them 

 (for all are not poifonous) given by the learned Scaliger, who 

 relates, that in Gafcony in France , there are Spiders of that Viru-- 

 lency, that if a Man treads upon them to cru(h them, their Poi- 

 fon will pafs thro' the very Soles of his Shoe )|. 



V. 



* Loivthorp, vol. ii. p. 794. f Ibid. vol. i. p. '5^3- 



J Atl.Geog. Amer. p. lyy, 2(^5, 519. 



II Scaliger Exercit. in Boylis Siihtil. Eiflu. Philof. Tra^JaBio^is. Where there is z 

 curious Account how Spificrs lay and guard their Egg?: Dcrbarn. 



