spider's web. 275 



Palmer in a lecture on these little creatures^, that I 

 long to obtain further knowledge about them, and am 

 beating every bush and shrub in search of cockchafers, 

 caterpillars, flies, and moths. Could my former ac- 

 quaintance see me thus employed, how they would 

 ridicule my taste for pursuing such objects as they be- 

 hold with disgust ! But we see with different eyes. 

 A spider would excite, in most of them, abhorrence, 

 if not terror. Reason and habit have so overcome the 

 prejudices of my infancy, that I can look at them, 

 not only without apprehension; but with admiration. 

 What can deserve attention more than a spider's web ? 

 How artful its construction ! each web being adapted 

 to the place it is to fill. This little artist strengthens 

 those lines that are too weak, by joining others to the 

 middle of them, which she attaches to distant objects. 

 These nets serve two purposes : the first and most obvi- 

 ous is, that of entangling flies, the natural prey of the 

 spider ; the other, to supply the want of wings, and 

 convey the insect from place to place. Field spiders 

 being more exposed to the injuries of dews and tem- 

 pests, construct their nets with more mathematical 

 exactness than the house spiders : with such precision 

 is instinct accommodated to circumstances. 



Some spiders have a dwelling, or lodging -place, in 

 the middle of the web, well contrived for warmth, 

 security, or concealment. There is a large spider in 



