THE HUNTRESS WASPS 



But commonly the round webs will be seen vacant, 

 strung between the stalks of wild flowers and grasses, 

 or among the boughs of shrubs and trees. Be sure that 

 the architect and owner is not far off. Note this sepa- 

 rate, strong, taut thread attached to the centre. It is 

 the trap-line. Follow it upward along its course, and 

 you will trace it to the outreached front paws of a spider 

 whose body is sheltered within a pretty, bell-shaped tent 

 of leaves deftly bent and basted together and daintily 

 lined with silk. This is the proprietor and builder of 

 snare and tent. She has learned — or, let us say, she 

 knows, and her race has learned — the need of such a 

 sheltering domicile and fort. Therein she lies in ambus- 

 cade, waiting until the agitation of an entangled insect 

 "thrills along the line," whereat she rushes forth, seizes 

 and swathes her victim, and bears it to her den to feed 

 upon at leisure. Some of these leafy tents are really 

 pretty objects, and show no little architectural ingenuity 

 and skill — anthropomorphic terms which we must use 

 until philologists or dissenting pliilosophers shall supply 

 our poverty of words when speaking of animal mental- 

 ism and its products. 



We may turn to a widely separated group, the Terri- 

 telariae, or tunnel-weavers. In the trap-door spider pro- 

 tective industry has reached almost its highest results 

 among lower animals. Its usual nest is a tubular tunnel 

 in the ground, lined with thick, white silk tapestry, and 

 closed at the top with a hinged and neatly bevelled 

 semicircular door made of alternate layers of silk and 

 soil. The outer layer is soil when the surrounding sur- 

 face is bare of vegetation. Otherwise the growth of 

 herbage upon the top of the door is sometimes encour- 

 aged if not caused. 



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