418 FOOD OF INSECTS. 



by an attentive observer, and I shall be glad if my at- 

 tempt to describe their more ordinary operations should 

 induce you to aim at signalizing yourself by the dis- 

 covery. If you failed in solving every difficulty, you 

 would at least be rewarded by witnessing their indus- 

 try, ingenuity, and patience. 



For the latter virtue they have no small occasion. 

 Incapable of actively pursuing their prey, they are de- 

 pendent upon what chance conducts into their toils, 

 which, especially those spread in neglected buildings, 

 often remain for a long period empty. Even the geo- 

 metrical spiders, which fix themselves in the midst of 

 a well-peopled district in the open air, have frequently 

 to sustain a protracted abstinence. A continued storm 

 of wind and rain will demolish their nets, and preclude 

 the possibility of reconstructing them for many days 

 or sometimes weeks, during which not a single gnat 

 regales their sharp-set appetites. And when at length 

 formed anew or repaired, an unlucky bee or wasp, or 

 an overgrown fly, will perversely entangle itself in 

 toils not intended for insects of its bulk, and in disen- 

 gaging itself once more leave the net in ruin. — All 

 these trials move not our philosophic race. They pa- 

 tiently sit in their watcliing-place in the same posture, 

 scarcely ever stirring but when the expected prey ap- 

 pears. And hovf^'ever repeatedly their nets are injured 

 or destroyed, as long as their store of silk is unex- 

 hausted, they repair or reconstruct them without loss 

 of time. 



The web of a house spider will, with occasional re- 

 pairs, serve for a considerable period ; but the nets of 

 the geometric spiders are in favourable weather re- 



