TWO YOUNG NATURALISTS. 149 



Held by a thread between two branches of some 

 bushes there was a large spider, Epeira diadema, 

 which, quite unaffected by being the subject of con- 

 versation, was calmly taking the preliminary steps 

 towards the formation of its net. 



" You are both right and wrong," said Le*on. 

 u You are right, for I had no recollection of the 

 spiders ; but you are wrong, inasmuch as spiders are 

 not insects. They are out of the category, as they 

 possess eight legs, and also lungs. The Myriapoda 

 (centipedes and thousand legs) also form a sepa- 

 rate class. The first of these two classes is named 

 Arachnida. The ordinary equivalent of this scien- 

 tific term may be given as the ' class of spiders ' ; 

 the second, Myriapoda, which means, 'myriad feet.' 

 Now we shall see how the spinning spiders construct 

 their web." * 



The spider, at the moment when the young men 

 arrived, -had already fastened the end of its thread to 

 a twig, then letting itself fall, it attached the other 

 end a little lower down. This preliminary part of 

 the work being accomplished, it several times re- 



* Those who dislike the spiders found in our houses should not on that 

 account allow themselves to be prejuduced against those that live in our 

 fields and gardens. These latter are in reality valuable friends to us because 

 of the little insects they devour as food. A friend of ours, who lives in 

 Mauritius, has furnished us with the following striking example of this : 

 " In some portions of the island the plantations were formerly surrounded 

 by large trees, where numerous spiders made their webs. In every place 

 where these trees have been felled and the spiders destroyed, little insects, 

 chiefly Diptera, have directly appeared in unexampled abundance." 



