CH. XIV.] THE SPIDER. 241 



spider conveys it at once to the place of slaughter ; 

 and, having at its leisure sucked all its juice, throws 

 out the carcass. If the insect, being somewhat 

 larger in size, should struggle to escape, the spider, 

 with surprising address and agility, envelopes its 

 prey in a mesh of threads passed round its body in 

 various directions ; both its wings and legs being by 

 these means effectually secured, it is then conveyed 

 to the den, and devoured. Sometimes a bee, or 

 large fly, too powerful to be mastered by the spider, 

 happens to get entangled in its toils ; in this case, 

 the wary animal, conscious of its incapacity to con- 

 tend against such fearful odds, makes no attempt 

 either to seize or embarrass the intruder: on the 

 contrary, it assists the entangled captive in its efforts 

 to free itself, and often goes so far as to break off 

 that part of the net from which it may be suspended ; 

 apparently content to get rid of so unwelcome and 

 unwieldy a customer at any sacrifice. 



In the fen ditches of Norfolk, a large spider has 

 been found, which actually forms a raft for the pur- 

 pose of obtaining its prey with more facility. It 

 first constructs a ball of weeds about three inches 

 in diameter. Taking its station upon this floating 

 island, it glides along upon the surface of the water; 

 the moment it sees a drowning insect, it pounces 

 upon it, not, as it may be well imagined, for the pur- 

 pose of aiding its escape, but of hastening its 

 destruction. The body thus obtained is then con- 

 veyed upon the floating raft, where it is devoured at 

 leisure. 



The spider has many enemies ; and hence its 

 web is always in danger of being deranged and 

 damaged ; to meet this inconvenience, nature has 

 furnished the insect with a magazine of materials 

 for occasional repairs, and which, although fre- 

 quently exhausted, still continues to be replenished; 

 this reservoir, however, is drained in time. When 

 spiders grow old, their supply of gum is dried up ; 

 I. X 



