FOOD OF INSECTS. 409 



the process followed in the construction of both, be- 

 ginning- with the latter. 



The weaving spider which is found in houses, having 

 selected some corner for the site of her web, and deter- 

 mined its extent, presses her spinners against one of 

 the walls, and thus glues to it one end of her thread. 

 She then walks along the wall to the opposite side, 

 and there in like manner fastens the other end. This 

 thread, which is to form the outer margin or selvage 

 of her web, and requires strength, she triples or qua- 

 druples by a repetition of the operation just described; 

 and from it she draws other threads in various direc- 

 tions, the interstices of which she fills up by running 

 from one to the other, and connecting them by new 

 threads until the whole has assumed the gauze-like 

 texture which we see. Books of natural history, all 

 copying from one another, have described these kinds 

 of web as fabricated of a regular warp and woof, or of 

 parallel longitudinal lines crossed at right angles by 

 transverse ones glued to them at the points of intersec- 

 tion. This, however, is clearly erroneous, as you will 

 see by the slightest examination of a web of this kind, 

 in which no such regularity of texture can be disco- 

 vered. 



The webs just described present merely a simple 

 horizontal surface, but others more frequently seen in 

 out-houses and amongst bushes possess a very artificial 

 appendage. Besides the main web, the spider carries 

 up from its edges and surface a number of single threads 

 often to the height of many feet, joining and crossing 

 each other in various directions. Across these lines, 

 which may be compared to the tackling of a ship, flies 



