SPIDERS AND THEIR WAYS. 801 



tion among the most insignificant of beings ; but they play an im- 

 portant part in nature, and often serve the interests of cultivators 

 by causing the destruction of numerous noxious insects. They 

 are the Theridions. Some of them form a web with wide meshes, 

 while others weave a regular tissue that rests directly upon the 

 grass or is fixed upon other plants. They usually lurk under their 

 webs. The females make several cocoons for their young and 

 keep them in their nets. Some species build a dome-shaped shel- 

 ter out of foreign bodies fastened together with threads. Some- 

 times the grapes in vineyards are covered with a web so fine that 

 it escapes notice, and the grape is swallowed, web, spider, and all. 

 Walckenaer named this species Theridium henignum, considering 

 it beneficent. It lives in part on insects injurious to the vine, 

 and its little web protects the grapes against the attacks of ani- 

 mals fond of good fruit, but which will not venture to embarrass 

 their mouths with spiders' webs. 



Spiders very generally take pains to isolate themselves from 

 one another. It is a matter of instinct. Were it not so, there 

 would be perpetual slaughterings. Two spiders meeting never 

 fail to be taken with a terrible desire to devour each other ; but 

 there are curious exceptions to this rule. Minute spiders, called 

 Linyphia, are not afraid to attach their nets to the large-meshed 

 webs of the great epei'ras. Some linyphias, like the Linyphia 

 argyroides, are of curious forms, from four to six millimetres in 

 size at the largest, and are adorned, on a reddish-brown ground, 

 with golden and silvery colors that shine with a bright luster. 

 They may be remarked in the south of Europe and in Africa, sta- 

 tioned on a little net within the meshes of the web of a superb 

 epeira. A feature that adds to the singularity of the grouping at a 

 certain period is the presence of the cocoon of the linyphia, hang- 

 ing by a slight thread from the web of the larger species ; but 

 treachery sometimes invades this association. An epeira and a 

 linyphia had lived in the best of relations. The larger spider was 

 taken away from her abode, leaving the cradle of her family with- 

 out defense. On the next day the linyphia had opened the cocoon 

 and was quietly eating the half -hatched epeiras. 



There are legions of spiders, superior to all the others, living 

 in the shade, which are distinguished in an extraordinary degree 

 by their habits and instincts, and perhaps by their intelligence. 

 These species do not make webs, but have some of them only a 

 shift for a refuge, others simple abodes, and still others quite 

 sumptuous habitations. In temperate climates many of them 

 construct in secluded spots, from a fine white silk, well-finished 

 tunnels in which they make a nearly permanent residence. The 

 Segestria are the most important members of this group. The 

 Florentine or perfidious segestrium, the larger species of the genus. 



