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in the day the wehs have vanished ! Have tlie weavers rolled them 

 uj^ and carried them off ? AVe remember that there was an espe- 

 cially iine one near the end of the veranda steps ; we examine the 

 place carefnlly and find that it is still there, bnt not so conspicuous 

 as it was. The warm sun has dissipated the dew which rendered 

 visible to our dull eves the tapestrv of the fields. Now that our 

 eyes are opened we can find the webs everywhere and are impressed 

 with a suspicion that perhaps ordinarily we see very little of what 

 is around us. 



We examine one of the webs carefullv and find that it is a closely 

 woven sheet made of threads running in all directions ; that it is 

 attached to spears of grass, and supported by mimerous guy lines, 

 and that from one side a funnel-like tube extends downwards. If, 

 while we are watchino- an insect alicrhts on the sheet there darts 

 from the tunnel, where she was concealed, the owner of the web, a 

 dark-colored spider ; and the insect must be agile if it escapes. 



If you attempt to catcli the spider it retreats to its tunnel ; and 

 when you examine the tunnel the spider is not there. You find 

 that the tube is open below, that there is a back door by which the 

 spider can escape when liard pressed. 



We call those spiders that make webs of this kind The F^mnel- 

 weh Weavers. They are long-legged brown spiders, which run on 

 the upper surface of their webs ; these are usually made on grass, 

 but sometimes thev are found in the ano-les of buildino;s, and in 

 quite high places. 



The Cobweb Weavers. 



The webs that we most often find in the corners of rooms are 

 of a different kind and are made by the members of a family 

 known as The Cohioeh Weavers. In these webs there is not such 

 a definite sheet of silk as in those of the fumiel-web weavers, but 

 instead a shapeless maze of threads extending in all directions. 

 Many of the col)\veb weavers, however, make their webs in the 

 fields on bushes, and weave in them a flat or curved sheet, under 

 which the spider hangs back downward. The funnel-web weavers 

 run right side up, the cobweb weavers hang inverted. Some of the 

 cobweb weavers do not remain in the webs, but have a nest in a 



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