276 



JAMAICA SPIDER. 



South America, which forms nets of so strong a tex- 

 ture as to entangle small birds, particularly the hum- 

 ming-bird. In Jamaica, there is a species that digs 

 a hole in the earth, obliquely downwards, about three 

 inches in length, and one in width : this cavity the 

 insect lines with a tough, thick web, which, when 

 taken out, resembles a leathern purse. But what is 

 a still greater defence, this house has a door with 

 hinges, like the enclosure of an oyster or a muscle, 

 which is opened and shut when any of the inhabit- 

 ants go abroad or return home. 



Many insects, if they are touched, defend themselves 

 by feigning death : they instantly roll themselves up, 

 or shrink, as it were, from danger, and remain motion- 

 less a considerable time. The different species of gall- 

 insects produce a nidus for their young ; as, the thorny 

 excrescences on briers, the oak-apples, the lumps on 

 leaves of trees, and those on the backs of cows. 



The strongest impulse, through all the insect tribes, 

 after satisfying hunger and self-defence, is that of pro- 

 viding for their future progeny ; but, as the existence 

 of the mother, in many kinds^ terminates long before 

 the young are hatched, this care cannot be attributed 

 to affection, but to an invariable law, impressed on 

 every individual by the hand of the Creator, for the 

 purpose of preserving the species. Ichneumons dis- 

 play extraordinary sagacity in the disposal of their 



