452 



HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



est extremity ; 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 

 a 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 on accidental depredation ; 

 but in two or three months it inevitably dies 

 of hunger. 1 



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 

 intentions. 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, 

 or something that very nearly resembles one, 

 and in this the animal is generally seen to 

 reside. It often happens, however, when 



1 From its having been frequently remarked that 

 spiders spread their webs in solitary and confined places, 

 to which it is difficult for flies to penetrate, M. de Vail- 

 lant naturally concluded that these creatures must often 

 remain long without food, and that consequently they 

 were capable of enduring considerable abstinence. To 

 ascertain the truth of this circumstance, he took a large 

 garden spider, whose belly was about the size of a nut, 

 and enclosed it under a glass bell, which he secured with 

 cement round its bottom, and left it in that situation for 

 ten months. Notwithstanding this deprivation of food, 

 it appeared during the whole time equally vigorous and 

 alert ; but its belly decreased, till at last it was scarcely 

 larger than the head of a pin. He then put under the 

 bell to it another spider of the same species. For a 

 little while they kept at a respectful distance from each 

 other, and remained motionless, but presently the meagre 

 one, pressed by hunger, approached and attacked the 

 stranger. It returned several times to the charge; and, 

 in these different conflicts, its enemy became deprived 

 of almost all its claws ; it carried these away, and re- 

 tired to its former situation to devour them. The meagre 

 one had likewise lost three of its own claws, on which 

 also it fed ; and M. de Vaillant perceived that by this 

 repast, its plumpness was in some measure restored. 

 The day following, the new comer, deprived of all its 

 means of defence, fell a complete sacrifice. It was 

 speedily devoured ; and in less than twenty-four hours, 

 the old inhabitant of the bell became as plump as it was 

 at the first moment of its confinement. 



the young spider begins spinning, that its web 

 becomes too buoyant, and not only the thread 

 floats in the air, but even the little spinster. 

 In this manner we have often seen the threads 

 of spiders floating in the air ; and what is still 

 more surprising, the young spiders themselves 

 attached to their own web. The reason is 

 obvious ; for as even gold itself may be so 

 finely drawn out as to float in the air, so the 

 finer threads of a spider are so buoyant as not 

 only to swim in the air, but also to lift the 

 spider itself ; which, like the tail of a kite, 

 rises with its own manufacture. 



The spider's web being thus completed, and 

 fixed in a proper place, its next care is to seize 

 and secure whatever insect happens to be 

 caught in the toil. For this purpose, it re- 

 mains for weeks, and even months, upon the 

 watch, without ever catching a single fly ; for 

 the spider, like most other insects, is surpris- 

 ingly patient of hunger. It sometimes hap- 

 pens that too strong a fly strikes itself against 

 the web, and thus, instead of being caught, 

 tears the net to pieces. In general, however, 

 the butterfly or the hornet, when they touch 

 the web, fly off again, and the spider seems 

 no way disposed to interrupt their retreat. 

 The large blue-bottle-fly, the ichneumon-fly, 

 and the common meat-fly, seem to be its 

 favourite game. When one of these strikes 

 into the toils, the spider is instantly seen alert 

 and watchful at the mouth of its hole, careful 

 to observe whether the fly be completely im- 

 meshed ; if that be the case, the spider walks 

 leisurely forward, seizes its prey, and instantly 

 kills it by instilling a venomous juice into the 



When two spiders of the same size meet in combat, 

 neither of them will yield ; they hold each other by the 

 fangs so fast, that in general one of the two must die be- 

 fore they are separated. M. Leeuwenhoeck says, he saw 

 one spider that was, however, only wounded in one leg 

 by his antagonist. A drop of blood as large as a grain 

 of sand issued from the sore ; and not being able to use 

 this wounded leg in running away from his adversary, he 

 held it up, and presently afterwards the whole limb 

 dropped away from his body. When spiders are wounded 

 in the breast, or upper parts of the body, they always die. 



The spider, the ptinus, and many insects of the beetle 

 kind, exhibit an instinct of a very extraordinary nature. 

 When put in terror by a touch of the finger, the spider 

 runs off with great swiftness ; but if he finds in what- 

 ever direction he takes he is opposed by another finger, 

 he then seems to despair of being able to escape, con tracts 

 his limbs and body, lies perfectly motionless, and coun- 

 terfeits every symptom of death. " In this situation," 

 says Smellie, " I have pierced spiders with pins, and 

 torn them to pieces, without their discovering the small- 

 est marks of pain. This simulation of death has been 

 ascribed to a strong convulsion, or stupor, occasioned by 

 terror. But this solution of the phenomenon is errone- 

 ous. I have repeatedly tried the experiment, and uni- 

 formly found, that, if the object of terror be removed, in 

 a few seconds the animal runs on" with the greatest 

 rapidity. Some beetles, when counterfeiting death, will 

 suffer themselves to be gradually roasted without moving 

 a single joint." 



