310 INSECT APcCHTTECTURE. 



behind oiir liuntress, then woiikl the spider whirl its body 

 so nimbly about, as nothing could be imagined more 

 swift : by which means she always kept the head towards 

 her prey, though, to appearance, as immoveable as if it had 

 been a nail driven into the wood, till by that indiscernible 

 progress (being arrived within the sphere of her reach) 

 she made a fatal leap, swift as lightning, upon the fly, 

 catching him in the pole, where she never quitted hold till 

 her belly was full, and then carried the remainder home." 



One feels a little sceptical, however, when he adds, 

 " I have beheld them instructing their j^onng ones how 

 to hunt, which they would sometimes discipline for not 

 well observing; but when any of the old ones did (as 

 sometimes) miss a leap, they would run out of the field 

 and hide themselves in their crannies, as ashamed, and 

 haply not to be seen abroad for four or five hours after ; 

 for so long have I watched the nature of this strange 

 insect, the contemplation of whose so wonderful sagacity 

 and address has amazed me ; nor do I find in any chase 

 whatsoever more cunning and stratagem observed. I 

 have found some of these spiders in my garden, when 

 the weather, towards spring, is very hot, but they are 

 nothing so eager in hunting as in Italj'."* 



We have only to add to this lively narrative, that the 

 hunting-spider, when he leaps, takes good care to provide 

 against accidental falls by always swinging himself from 

 a good strong cable of silk, as Swammerdam correctly 

 states, t and which anybody may verify, as one of the 

 small hunters (Salticus sceiiicus), known b}^ having its back 

 striped with black and white like a zebra, is very common 

 in Britain. 



Mr. A\'eston, the editor of ' Bloomfield's Eemains,' falls 

 into a very singular mistake about hunting-spiders, imagin- 

 ing them to be web-weaving ones which have exha7isted 

 their materials, and which are therefore compelled to 

 hunt. In proof of this he gives an instance which fell 

 under his own observation !J 



* Evelyn's Travels in Italy. t Book of Nature, part i. p. 24. 



1 Bloomfield's Remains, vol. ii. p. G4, note. 



