STRENGTH OF WEBS AND POWER OF SPIDERS. 241 



the floor. The snake was moving about incessantly, in a circle as large as 

 its tether would allow, wholly unable to get its head down to the floor or 

 to withdraw it from the noose, while the spider was ever and anon Class- 

 ing down to the loop and up to the shelf, adding thereby an addi- 

 tional strand to the thread. Each new strand being tightly drawn, ele- 

 vated the head of the snake gradually more and more. 



As oidy the neck of the creature was at first entangled. Dr. Fitch 

 thinks that the spider was exposed to attack as she ran up and down 

 the cord, and that during the early stages of the conflict the snake did 

 snap at the spider with its mouth. The latter, however, " with her hind 

 legs, as when throwing a thread around a fly, had cast one thread after 

 another over the mouth of the snake, so that he was now perfectly muz- 

 zled, by a series of lines placed vertically over the mouth ; these were held 

 from being pushed asunder by another series "placed horizontally," as Dr. 

 Fitch's informant states he particularly observed. " No muzzle or wicker- 

 work for the mouth of an animal could be woven with more artistic 

 regularity and perfection ; and the snake occasionally making a desperate 

 attempt to open his mouth would merel}^ put these threads upon the 

 stretch. This strange conflict issued in victory for the spider. The snake 

 continued his gyrations, his gait becoming gradually slower through weak- 

 ness and fatigue. The spider continued to move down and up the cord, 

 gradually shortening it. At last the serpent was drawn up so far that 

 only two or three inches of the tail touched the floor, when he expired, 

 about six days after his capture was first noticed. 



It is the above behavior, in swathing the victim with thickened strands 

 of silk drawn out and thrown rapidly from the spinnerets by the hind 

 feet, that determines the generic position of the spider with some cer- 

 tainty. The snare from the descrijition was evidently not an orbweb, 

 and this behavior, in connection with other details, points to 

 Tneridi- gome Lineweaver as the hero of this exploit, either Theridium 

 , . tepidariorum or Pholcus phalangioides — probably the former. 



Tepidariorum is a vigorous, active, and ferocious species. (See 

 Chapter I., Fig. 7.) Her web is often spread over great spaces, and is 

 strong enough to bear the weight of such a snake as here described. She 

 shows unusual courage, strength, and skill in capture of prey, taking 

 very large beetles and other insects, which she will raise through great 

 (relative) distances to the centre of her snare. 



It is worthy of mention, in connection with these incidents, that the 

 belief that a special enmity exists between spiders and serpents is very 

 ancient. Pliny says that the spider, poised in its web, will throw itself 

 upon the head of a serpent as it is stretched beneath the shade of a tree, 

 and with its bite will pierce its brain. Such is the shock that the 

 creature will hiss from time to time, and then, seized with vertigo, will 

 coil round and round, but finds itself unable to take flight or even to 



