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ahalf. Itis a pity it could not have been added that the spider immediately 
invited his friends and neighbours to the feast, but observation as yet, records no 
such instance. Spiders as they have the power of fasting for months without 
apparentinjury, socanthey gorge themselves inordinately when they have the oppor- 
unity. A naturalist writes, ‘‘ Some years ago, when living in a lonely way, I took 
pains to cultivate the acquaintance of a remarkably well developed spider, who had 
formed a symmetrical web in one corner of my room. In order to propitiate his 
favor, I fed him with such food as I thought best adapted to his taste, and after a 
while he seemed to rely entirely upon me for his supplies, relapsing, as human 
beings often do, under similar circumstances, into luxurious ease and inactivity. 
One morning by way of testing his temper, I threw a small piece of wet tobacco 
into his web. He supposing it to be his usual morning fly, rushed towards it with 
hungry avidity, and instantly ran away to a remote corner of his premises with 
still greater velocity. I was aware that the presence of such a nauseous substance 
as this in his domicile would be very offensive, and I also knew that he would not 
venture so near a second time as would be necessary in order to remove the article, 
and my curiosity was excited to see what course he would pursue. After awhile 
he crawled to the upper part of his web, and shook it with all his might but was 
unsuccessful in dislodging the offending substance. He then returned to his 
accustomed place in the centre of the web, and for a few moments appeared to be 
thinking the matter over. At last he stepped out with an air of confidence that 
satisfied me he had hit upon something, altho’ I was unable to conjecture what it 
would be. True enough he had solved the problem, and accordingly went to work 
to sawing away a circle round the tobacco until the whole concern fell out altogether. 
After which he repaired the damage, and all was right again. I think, however, 
that from this time my spider friend never gave me his confidence.” 
A spider attacked an ant into the body of which he plunged his poison fangs, 
he at one recoiled showing signs of great distress, left the ant, which was not dead, 
and running to an earthern flower pot seized its edge between his fangs and remained 
some time in this position. At length he let go his hold, leaving on the surface of 
the pot a wet blotch more than half an inch in diameter, went back and finished 
killing the ant. He had evidently imbibed some of the formic acid from the ant 
and that was the mode in which he sought and found relief, 
Some time ago I fed a garden spider occasionally, but one day while 
smoking my pipe I treated her to a puff of tobacco smoke. She immediately let 
herself down some distance from the ..cb, and remained motionless for a few 
moments. She then ran up again cs fast as she could, cut her web all to pieces so 
that it was hanging in shreds, and then left the spot. I felt sorry for what I had 
done. 
Dr. J. Lawrence Hamilton gives the following incident of the spider's 
instinct which he witnessed :—“‘ A boy removed asmall spider to place it in the 
centre of a big spider’s web which was hung among foliage, and distant some four 
feet from the ground. The large spider soon rushed from its hiding place under a 
leaf to attack the intruder, who ran up one of the ascending lines by which the 
