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after it. The spider found this balance weight at some distance from the web, and 
certainly must have dragged it for a distance of five feet along the ground before 
reaching the spot below the web. There were eight or ten similar webs in the same 
verandah, but only in this single instance was the net steadied by a weight.” 
The perseverance of the spider is proverbial, and is shewn in all her actions 
—in spinning, in cleaning her web, in attacking her prey, or in endeavouring to 
accomplish any object that she has set her mind upon. Man may learn a lesson 
here ; and it has been learnt, at least on one memorable occasion, if history is 
truthful. The Scottish hero Bruce, when hiding in a cave from his enemies, took 
courage from the perseverance of a spider. He noticed that it failed six times to 
attach its thread, and still made a seventh effort, which was happily successful. 
He may thus be said to have hung his own decision and the fate of Scotland on the 
persevering efforts of a spider. 
Chambers in ‘‘ Anecdotes of Spiders,” says, ‘‘ Upon throwing a large lively 
fly on a very large net in front of a summer-house, which was trellised with a rose- 
bush, the spider was sheltered in a crevice, but the web was open and free. The 
fly was no sooner on the net than the spider was instantly out, threw round the 
buzzing wings of his game a few coils of gossamer and then seized him and 
struck the fatal wound. By struggling, the fly had entangled itself pretty largely 
in the net, so that it could not be dragged to the den without rending the net from 
the centre to the circumference. The spider perceiving this dilemma cut the sur- 
rounding meshes and the fly fell, not to the ground however, for a strong thread 
had been provided and it merely dangled a few inches under the net. The spider 
then hurried to the mouth of its den and drew up the fly without difficulty or 
impediment—could human reason have done more?” 
Wood gives the following account of a battle between a spider and a cock- 
roach, he says: ‘‘In this case the cockroxch struggled furiously and was nearly 
escaping had not the spider bethought itself of a new manceuvre, we had noticed 
him frequently attempt to bite through the sheath armour of the cockroach but he 
seemed to have failed in piercing it. He now seemed determined to catch the two 
fore legs that were free. After twenty trials at least, he noosed one of them and 
soon had it under his control. .This pair of legs was more delicate a great deal 
than the others; he instantly bit through the captured one. The poison was not 
sufficient to affect the large mass of the cockroach a great deal, but the leg seemed 
to give it much pain, and it bent its head forward to caress the wound with its 
jaws, and now the object of the cunning spider was apparent. He ran instantly 
to the old position he had been routed from on the back of the neck, and while the 
cockroach was employed in soothing the smart of the bite, he succeeded in envelop- 
ing the head from the back in such a way, as to prevent the cockroach from 
straightening it out again and in a little while more, had him bound in that posi- 
tion and entirely surrounded by the web. A few more last agonies and the cock- 
roach was dead, for the neck bent forward in this way, exposed a vital part beneath 
the sheath, and we left the spider quietly feeding upon the fruit of his weary 
contest. The battle between brute force, and subtle sagacity, lasted one hour and 
