in HERMIT HOMES 115 



opening in the autumn season for the space of two or 

 three weeks, in order to elude the raids of the 

 fossorial wasps, who are then engaged in provision- 

 ing their young. The wasps run over the ground, 

 peering into every nook and cranny, and should one 

 alight upon a nest unbarricaded, down it goes 

 and returns with the inmate, rendered powerless by its 

 poisonous sting. During the winter the doors are 

 likewise hermetically sealed. 



Unlike most of its kind the spider Argyronetra 

 aquatica is aquatic, or rather amphibious, and habit- 

 ually spends the greater portion of its time in the 

 watery element, constructing its home, and surround- 

 ing itself with the atmospheric air essential for respir- 

 ation. It may be found in various parts of England 

 Cambridge is a favourite locality in rivers and 

 pools and ditches where the water is calm and un- 

 troubled. Its cell is composed of silk, and is more or 

 less oval in shape and about half the size of a pigeon's 

 egg, and is suspended in a vertical position, the open 

 part being directed downwards. The spider commences 

 by spinning loose threads of silk in different directions, 

 attaching them to the leaves of water-plants the 

 framework of her building so to speak. Within these 

 supports she sets her beautiful transparent chamber. 

 Before occupation it is necessary that it be filled with 

 air. Slowly but surely ascending to the surface, 

 assisted by a thread fixed to the leaf or other house 

 prop below, and to the outside of the water, she 

 obtains a bubble from the atmosphere, and imme- 

 diately and quickly descends with it by the same 

 route to the bell-shaped nest. Having arrived 



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