156 OUR INSECT FRIENDS AND FOES 



victim, the Spider carries it down the flower 

 stem to the ground, and after sucking it dry, 

 once more ascends to the base of the flower-head. 

 The young Thomisidae are great aeronauts, 

 delighting on fine autumn evenings to gain 

 some suitable starting-point such as the edge of 

 a leaf or twig, and then allowing long threads 

 of gossamer to float out from their spinnerets 

 until a sort of gossamer air-raft or monoplane is 

 formed, capable of bearing them away on the 

 wings of the wind. In this way the little 

 Spiderkins make quite considerable journeys 

 through the air, and on their descent cover the 

 hedgerows with their gossamer threads. 



The Malmignatte Spider, common in the 

 south of Europe and the Mediterranean islands, 

 particularly Corsica, has a very bad reputation, 

 the effect of its bite upon a healthy person being 

 said to cause considerable pain and fever, and 

 even in some cases fatal results, though the 

 latter statement needs authoritative confirmation. 

 Unfortunately, people are only too ready to 

 make the most rash and exaggerated statements 

 about the evils resulting from the bites of 

 Spiders, statements which, though they will not 

 bear calm scientific investigation, yet catch and 

 hold the popular ear, with the result that many 

 of these creatures are still looked upon as being 

 dangerously venomous, although they are pro- 

 bably less harmful than fleas. The Malmignatte 

 measures about half an inch in length, and is black 

 in colour, ornamented with blood-red spots upon 

 its abdomen. It preys upon grasshoppers and 

 young locusts, sinking its fangs into the body of 



