426 FOOD OF IXSECTS. 



cious attack of the lion ; the wily spring of the tiger ; 

 the sedentary cunning of the lynx; and the amphibious 

 dexterity of the otter. 



This general view of the stratagems by which the 

 spider tribe obtain their food, imperfect as it is, will, I 

 trust, have interested you sufficiently to drive av,ay the 

 associations of disgust with which you, like almost 

 every one else, have probably been accustomed to re- 

 gard these insects. Instead of considering them as re- 

 pulsive compounds of cruelty and ferocity, you will 

 henceforward see in their procedures only the inge- 

 nious contrivance of patient and industrious hunters, 

 who, while obeying the great law of nature in procu- 

 ring their sustenance, are actively serviceable to the 

 human race in destroying noxious insects. You will 

 allow the poet to stigmatize them as 



•" cunninjr and fierce- 



Mixture abhorred ! " 



but you will see that these epithets are in reality as 

 unjustly applied to them (at least with reference to 

 the mode in which they procure their necessary sub- 

 sistence) as to the patient sportsman who lays snares 

 for the birds that are to serve for the dinner of his 

 family ; and when you hear 



— — — — " the fluttering wing 



And shriller sound declare extreme distress," 



you will as little think it the part of true mercy to 

 stretch forth " the helping hospitable hand" to the 

 entrapped fly as to the captive birds. The spider re- 

 quires his meal as well as the Indian : and, however 

 to our weak capacity the great law of creation " eat 



