422 FOOD OF INSECTS. 



Nor must you suppose that all the spiders of this 

 country which catch their prey by means of snares, fol- 

 low the same plan in constructing them as the weavers 

 and geometricians whose operations I have endea- 

 voured to describe. The form of their snares and the 

 situation in which they place them are so various, that 

 it is impossible to enumerate more than a few of the 

 most remarkable. Aranea lahyriniliica^ L. extends over 

 the blades of grass a large white horizontal net, having 

 at its margin a cylindrical cell, in the bottom of which, 

 secure from birds and defended from the rays of the 

 sun, the spider lies concealed, whence on the slightest 

 movement of her net she rushes out upon her prey. 

 A. latens, F., conceals itself under a small net spun 

 upon the upper surface of a leaf, and thence seizes upon 

 any insect that chances to pass over it. A. 13-giff!ala, 

 Rossi, forms under stones and in slight furrows in the 

 ground a net consisting of threads spun without any 

 regularity in all directions, but so strong as to entrap 

 grass-hoppers, which are said to be its principal food ; 

 and a similar inartificial snare of simple threads is 

 often spun in windows by A. bipunctafa, L. and several 

 other species. u4. Senoculata and its affinities conceal 

 themselves in a long cylindrical straight silken tube, 

 from the mouth of which they stretch out their six an- 

 terior feet, whose extremities rest upon as many di- 

 verging threads : thus, as soon as an insect walks across 

 any of the threads (which are eight or ten inches long) 

 the insect's toes give it warning of prey being at hand, 

 when it rushes out and seldom fails to secure its victim. 



" The spider's (ouch how exquisitely fine! 



Feels at each thread, aud lives along the line." 



