Facts and Thoughts about Spiders. 197 



employed against wolves, bears, and tigers. And 

 the spider is here even worse off than man, since his 

 enemies are winged and able to sweep down in- 

 stantly on him from above ; they are also protected 

 with an invulnerable shield, and are armed with deadly 

 stings. Like man, also, the spider has a soft, unpro- 

 tected body, while his muscular strength, compared 

 with that of the insects he has to contend with, is 

 almost nil. His position in nature then, with relation 

 to his enemies, is like that of man ; only the spider 

 has this disadvantage, that he cannot combine with 

 others for protection. That he does protect himself 

 and maintains his place in nature is due, not to 

 special instincts, which are utterly insufficient, but 

 to the intelligence which supplements them. At 

 the same time this superior cunning is closely related 

 with, and probably results indirectly from, the web 

 he is provided with, and which is almost of the 

 nature of an artificial aid. Let us take the 

 imaginary case of a man-like monkey, or of an 

 arboreal man, born with a cord of great length 

 attached to his waist, which could be either dragged 

 after him or carried in a coil. After many accidents, 

 experience would eventually teach him to put it to 

 some use ; practice would make him more and more 

 skilful in handling it, and, indirectly, it would be 

 the means of developing his latent mental faculties. 

 He would begin by using it, as the monkey does 

 its prehensile tail, to swing himself from branch to 

 branch, and finally, to escape from an enemy or in 

 pursuit of his prey, he would be able by means of 

 his cord to drop himself with safety from the tallest 

 trees, or fly down the steepest precipices. He would 



