HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 475 



prepared for its reception. This manoeuvre she repeats 

 ten or twelve times, until at length in about a quarter 

 of an hour she has transported as much air as suffices to 

 expand her apartment to its intended extent, and now 

 finds herself in possession of a little aerial edifice, I 

 had almost said an enchanted palace, affording her a 

 commodious and dry retreat in the very midst of the 

 water. Here she reposes unmoved by the storms that 

 agitate the surface of the pool, and devours her prey 

 at ease and in safety. Both sexes form these lodgings. 

 At a particular season of the year the male quits his 

 apartment, approaches that of the female, enters it, and 

 enlarging it by the bubble of air that he carries with 

 him, it becomes a common abode for the happy pair''- 

 — The spider which forms these singular habitations is 

 one of the largest European species, and in some coun- 

 tries not uncommon in stagnant pools. 



I am, &c. 



^ Memoire pour servir a commencer fHisioire des Araignees Aquatiques, 

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