SCORPIONS, SPIDERS, AND MITES 



677 



Different spiders have many curious methods of capturing their insect-prey. Some catch 

 insects by running after them, and others by leaping on them, while those which spin webs 

 are also very dissimilar in their habits and in their abodes. The brown HOUSE-SPIDERS spin 

 webs in any room left undisturbed long enough to allow them to construct them. On the 

 other hand, the ORB-SPINNERS, or GARDEN-SPIDERS, construct elaborate webs out of doors. One 

 of the most beautiful of these is the DIADEM-SPIDER, which is nearly an inch long, and of a 

 green or reddish colour, with a white cross bordered with black on the back. The web is very 

 regularly constructed, the principal threads radiating in all directions from a common centre, 

 where the spider generally sits in fine weather, ready to rush out upon any insect which may 

 become entangled in the web. 



The GOSSAMER-SPIDERS spin light webs, which are easily carried up into the air, and upon 

 which the spiders are borne from one place to another. Sometimes on an autumn morning 

 the air may be seen to be full of these floating webs, which also cover the grass and bushes 

 where they have settled. The WATER-SPIDERS, again, construct a habitation of water-tight 

 silk under water, like a diving-bell, and inflate it by carrying down bubbles of air from the 

 surface, entangled in the hairs of the body. 



The nesting-habits of many spiders are very curious. The eggs are usually laid in a 

 silken case, and the RUNNING-SPIDERS may often be seen with the egg-cases attached to the 

 end of the body, as in the female cockroach. 



The males of many spiders are much smaller than the females, and are very liable to 

 be devoured by their partners. 



Among the most curious of the group are the SPINY SPIDERS, strange, horny, semicircular 



Phcti tt B. H. Btntlij 



GARDEN-SPIDER IN WEB 



A beautiful example of the structure of the iveb 



