580 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



insectivorous habits embrace the aranead nations also in their menu. Mon- 

 keys eat tliem ; Hentz discovered a rat eating Oxyopes viridans;^ and we 

 have an account, which may i^ass for what it is wortli, of even sheep 

 upon the Steppes of Russia devouring certain ground spiders. '-^ 



Many spiders while yet immature fall victims to the voracity of their 

 own species. I have elsewhere considered the charge of cannibalism as 

 lodged against spiderlings while yet within the cocoon, show- 

 anni- ^ ^^^q^i j^g ^ rule their cradle life and earliest babyhood are 

 largely exempt from the perils of internecine hunger. But when 

 once the solitary habit of the race has compelled the individuals to sep- 

 arate and dwell apart, Nature relaxes her restraining influence and hunger 

 converts all available objects into legitimate prey. After this period it is 

 not possible to defend our aranead friends against the charge of canni- 

 balism, even of the most revolting 



kind. Brothers and sisters eat each 

 other up without hesitation, and since, 

 naturally, fellow broodlings are likely 

 to pitch their tents and spin their 

 snares in closest contiguity, it comes 

 to pass that many of every brood are 

 devoted as sacrifices to the growth 

 and development of the few surviv- 

 ors to whom Nature has committed 

 the i)erpetuity of the species. Out- 

 side of these limits, everywhere, spi- 

 ders will prey upon their kind as 

 opportunity allows, even the hours 

 allotted to courtship aud amatory em- 

 brace not being wiioUy exempt from 

 the [)erils of this general tendency. 



II. 



Fig. Si2. 



^~- Perhaps the most persistent and 



— ->- -.^.,>:;:-^ _ _ , destructive natural enemies of spiders 



A wasp plucking an orbweaver from ^j-y certain hymeuopterous iusccts be- 

 lts snare. , . , ,i i r -1 l- 



longmg to the large tamily or wasps 

 known popularly as mud daubers and diggers. 



It has often been remarked Ijy ordinary observers that wasjjs can visit 

 a si>ider's web not only with impunity, but as a successful assailant of 

 the occui)ant thereof. This fact has crept into literature, and is embalmed 

 by Goethe in a striking allusion to his father. "Willingly," he writes in 

 his autobiography, " as I have made myself familiar with all sorts of 



' Spiders of the U. S., page 46. ^ Walckenaer, Apt., Vol. I., page 



172. 



