4-22 FOOD OF INSECTS. 



name of Vagrants, the latter by that of Hunters ; term- 

 ing those already mentioned which spin webs and nets, 

 Sedcntaries : if to these you add the Swimmers, or those 

 species which catch their prey in the water, you will 

 have an idea of the general manners of the whole race of 

 spiders. 



The artifices of that tribe which Walckenaer has 

 namecl vagrants are various and singular. Clubiona ho- 

 losericea and many other species conceal themselves in 

 a little cell formed of the rolled-up leaf of a plant, and 

 thence dart upon any insect which chances to pass ; 

 while C. atrox and its affinities select for their place 

 of ambush a hole in a wall, or lurk behind a stone, or in 

 the bark of a tree. Aranea calycina, L. more ingeniously 

 places herself at the bottom of the calyx of a dead flower, 

 and pounces upon the unwary flies that come in search 

 of honey ; and A. arundinacea buries herself in the thick 

 panicle of a reed, and seizes the luckless visitors enticed 

 to rest upon her silvery concealment. Many of this 

 tribe at times quit their habitations, and by various stra- 

 tagems contrive to come within reach of their prey, as 

 by pretending to be dead, hiding themselves behind any 

 slight projection, &c. A white species I have often ob- 

 served squatted in the blossom of the hawthorn or on 

 the flowers of umbelliferous plants, and is thus effectually 

 concealed by the similarity of colour. 



Foremost amongst the spiders comprehended by 

 Walckenaer under the general name of hunters, which 

 search after and openly seize their prey, must be enume- 

 rated the monstrous Mygale avicularia, at least two 

 inches long, which takes up its abode in the woods of 

 South America, and has been reputed to seize and de- 



