SPIDERS. SOS 



which has sometimes aflPorded so much doubt 

 among naturalists, is in this insect so visible, 

 that it may be distinctly perceived without 

 the assistance of a glass. 



Ingenuity of the Spider. 



T. A. Knight, Esq. of Herefordshire, 

 has in a Treatise on the culture of the 

 Apple and Pear, introduced the following 

 anecdote concerning this curious insect : 



'' I have frequently placed a Spider on a 

 small upright stick, whose base was sur- 

 rounded by water, to observe its most sin- 

 gular mode of escape. After having disco- 

 vered that the ordinary means of retreat are 

 cut off, it ascends the point of the stick, 

 and standing nearly on its head, ejects its 

 web, which the wind readily carries to some 

 contiguous object. Along this the sagacious 

 insect effects his escape, not, however, till 

 it has previously ascertained, by several ex- 

 ertions of its whole strength, that its web is 

 properly attached to the opposite end. I do 

 not know that this instance of the sagacity 



