303 



are so difficult to find again. The lid is most splendidly fitted to the trap, and 

 shuts so closely that it is perfection. The best likeness to which I can compare it 

 would be that of an orange. Cut into an orange, when on a plate, with a knife 

 some little distance from the centre. Make a fair circle, leaving a little of the 

 circle uncut, to act as a kind of lid. Raise this part bodily ; it would easily be 

 raised. Shut it again. The point of junction in the newly -cut orange would 

 scarcely be discoverable. Not more so than would the lid of the trap of the 

 trap-door spider. But how is it the lid opens and closes so easily ? I believe it is 

 that the joint — the hinge — is made of the web. The lining, the hinge, the lid are 

 one material. This, so far, accounts for its elasticity, but does not give the reason 

 why the lid opens and closes at the creature's will. Then there are spiders which 

 make hanging nests, suspended say, from the branch of a tree. They are called 

 pensile nests. Their only purpose seems to be the protection of their eggs, and 

 young when very young. They are spindle-shaped and some four inches in 

 length, nearly white in colour with a tint of yellow. You know in England we 

 have many spiders which make nests that, instead of being fixed to a certain spot, 

 are carried about by the parents for a time. No doubt the covering of the nests 

 of both these and the pensile spiders is the same. Eggs are put into queer places. 

 We find them in our sitting-rooms, cellars, and outhouses. They are to be dis- 

 covered also in leaves matted together with the web so spun that it encases them. 



There is a beautiful spider, called the Raft spider (Dolomedes fivihriatus), 

 known in England. Mr. Blackwall, in his book on spiders, tells us it is in the 

 fens of Cambridgeshire. It is one of the largest we have. It forms a raft on 

 which to float about on the water. This raft consists of sticks, leaves, &c., which 

 are woven together by the web which the animal forms. You may see the spider 

 on his raft, if he does not see you, in which case he would instantly disappear 

 under the water. He does not care where he floats about, because all places on 

 the water are likely to find him food. If he sees a young gnat or fly he pounces 

 upon it ; and if he is in the least danger he descends into the water, not like the 

 water spider with a globule of air, but down the stems of plants. Hence he lives 

 not in an open pond, but in places where fens and marshes exist. He often goes 

 for safety under his raft when surprised ; he will run some distance away from 

 his raft just as readily as he can run on land after food. He must be a most 

 interesting creature from his amphibious habits. 



Some of us may have heard of flying spiders. They are not British, but are 

 so interesting in their movements that an explanation of the way in which they 

 perform their flying motions will be interesting. The primary step for the spider 

 to take is to get for himself some point of eminence, say the top of a post — a gate- 

 post, for instance, from which he intends to ascend. He then assumes a position 

 most unusual to witness, inasmuch as he raises his abdomen at right angles to his 

 cephalo-thorax, an attitude ju.st the same as though we were to lie down, nose 

 downwards, on the ground, and point the soles of our feet to the heavens right 

 above us, as an acrobat alone could do. Then from the spinnerets the web is 

 ejected or ready for ejection— the face at the same time moving about until it 

 meets the wind, in which attitude it remains. The next thing to be done is to lift 



