660 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 
the fact that they are prisoners. They catch flies and devour them, 
sun themselves, mate, lay their eggs, and, indeed, carry on all the 
affairs of their daily life in the most natural and unconcerned 
manner imaginable, passing a whole summer in confinement with 
an appearance at least of perfect contentment.” * Anyone who 
has watched the Attzdw when stalking prey cannot but conclude 
that they are possessed of a long range of vision. Probably one of 
the earliest references to range of vision in spiders is that found 
in Evelyn’s “Travels in Italy.” In that interesting work the 
writer gives the following lively narrative :—“ Of all sorts of 
insects there is none has afforded mo more divertisement than the 
venatores (hunters), which are a sort of dup (wolves) that have 
their dens in rugged walls and crevices of our houses; a small 
brown and delicately-spotted kind of spiders, whose hind legs are 
longer than the rest. Such did I frequently observe at Rome, 
which, espying a fly at three or four yards’ (!) distance, upon the 
balcony where I stood, would not make directly to her, but crawl 
under the rail, till, having arrived at the antipodes, it would steal 
up, seldom missing its aim ; but if it chanced to want anything of 
being opposite, would, at first peep, immediately slide down again 
till, taking better notice, it would come the next time exactly 
upon the fly’s back ; but if this happened to be not within a com- 
petent leap, then would this insect move so softly, as the very 
shadow of the gnomen seemed not to be more imperceptible, unless 
the fly moved, and then would the spider move also in the same 
proportion, keeping that just time with her motion as if the same 
soul had animated both these little bodies ; and, whether it were 
forward, backwards, or to either side, without at all turning her 
body, like a well managed horse ; but, if the capricious fly took 
wing and pitched upon another place behind our huntress, then 
would the spider whirl its body so nimbly about as nothing 
could be imagined more swift, by which means she always kept the 
head towards her prey, though, to appearance, as immovable as if 
it had been a nail driven in the wood, till by that indiscernible 
progress, being arrived within the sphere of her reach, she made a 
fatal leap, swift as lightning, upon the fly, catching him in the 
pole, where she never “quitted hold till her belly was “full, and then 
carried the remainder home.” 
Writing upon the question of vision in the Attedw, Dr. McCook 
says :—‘ Their rapid and marked change of manner when prey is 
sighted, the mode of approach, like the action of a cat creeping 
upon a bird, the peculiar behaviour displayed when the final 
spring is made, are not to be accounted for on any theory other 
than a keen sense of sight,” and as this eminent naturalist has 
devoted many years to the study of these creatures, his view of the 
—— 
* Loc. cit., pp. 240, 241. t Spiders of the United States, p. 286. 
