THE SPIDER KIND. 



749 



have often seen, to the opposite place, where 

 the other end of the web is to be fastened. 

 The first thread thus formed, drawn tight, and 

 fixed at each end, the spider then runs upon it 

 backward and forward, still assiduously em- 

 ployed in doubling and strengthening it, as 

 uponils force depends the strength and stability 

 of the whole. The scaffolding thus completed, 

 the spider makes a number of threads parallel 

 to the first, in the same manner, and then 

 crosses them with others; the clammy sub- 

 stance of which they are formed, serving (o 

 bind them, when newly made, to each other. 

 The insect, after this opt ration, doubles and 

 trebles the thread that borders its web, by 

 opening all its teats at once, and secures the 

 edges, so as to prevent the wind from blowing 

 the work away. The edges being thus forti- 

 fied, the retreat is next to be attended to ; 

 and this is formed like a funnel at the bottom 

 of the web, where the little creature lies con- 

 cealed. To this are two passages, or outlets, 

 one above and the other below, very artfully 

 contrived, to give the animal an opportunity 

 of making excursions at proper seasons, of 

 prying into every corner, and cleaning thosp 

 parts which are observed to be clogged or 

 encumbered. Still attentive to its web, the 

 spider, from time to time, cleans away the 

 dust that gathers round it, which might other- 

 wise clog and incommode it : for this purpose, 

 it gives the whole a shake with its paws ; still, 

 however, proportioning the blow so as not to 

 endanger the fabric. It often happens also, 

 that from the main web there are several 

 threads extended at some distance on every 

 side; these are, in some measure, the outworks 

 of the fortification, which, whenever touched 

 from without, the spider prepares for attack 

 or self-defence. If the insect impinging be a 

 fly, it springs forward with great agility ; if, 

 on the contrary, it be the assault of an enemy 

 stronger than itself, it keeps within its fortress, 

 and never ventures out till the danger be over. 

 Another advantage which the spider reaps from 

 this contrivance of a cell or retreat behind the 

 web, is, that it serves for a place where the 

 creature can feast upon its game with all safety, 

 and conceal the fragments of those carcasses 

 which it has picked, without exposing to pub- 

 lic view the least trace of barbarity, that might 

 create a suspicion in any insects that their 

 enemy was near. 



It often happens, however, that the wind, 

 or the rustling of the branches, or the approach 

 of some large animal, destroys in a minute the 

 labours of an age. In this case, the spider is 

 obliged to remain a patient spectator of the 

 universal ruin ; and \\ hen the danger is passed 

 away, it sets about repairing the calamity. 

 For this purpose, it is furnished with a large 

 store of the glutinous substance of which the 

 web is made ; and with this, it cither makes 

 a new web, or patches up the old one. In 

 general, however, the animal is nsuch fonder 

 of mending than making, as it is furnished 

 originally with but a certain quantity of glu- 

 tinous matter, which, when exhausted, nothing 

 can renew. The time seldom fails to come, 

 when their reservoirs are entirely dried up, 

 and the poor animal is left to all the chances 

 of irretrievable necessity. An old spider is 

 thus frequently reduced to the greatest ex- 

 tremity ; its web is destroyed, and it wants 

 the materials to make a new one. But as 

 these animals have been long accustomed to a 

 life of shifting, it hunts about to find out the 

 web of another spider, younger and weaker 

 than itself, with whom it ventures a battle. 

 The invader generally succeeds ; the young 

 one is driven out to make a new web, and the 

 old one remains in quiet possession. If, how- 

 ever, the spider is unable to dispossess any 

 other of its web, it then endeavours, for a 

 while, to subsist upon accidental depredation; 

 but in two or three months it inevitably dies of 

 hunger. 



The garden-spider seems to work in a dif- 

 ferent manner. The method with this insect 

 is to spin a great quantity of thread, which 

 floating in the air in various directions, hap- 

 pens from its glutinous quality, at last to stick 

 to some object near it, a lofty plant or the 

 branch of a tree. The spider only wants to 

 have one end of the line fast, in order to secure 

 and tighten the other. It accordingly draws- 

 the line when thus fixed, and then by passing 

 and repassing upon it, strengthens the thread 

 in such a manner as to answer all its inten- 

 tions. The first cord being thus stretched, 

 the spider walks along a part of it, and there 

 fastens another, and dropping from thence, 

 fastens the thread to some solid body below, 

 then climbs up again and begins a third, which 

 it fastens by the same contrivance. When 

 three threads are thus fixed, it forms a square, 



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