SPIDERS 133 



ment on her part sends them scurrying off in the greatest alarm. 

 Sometimes the male will spin a little web of his own on the edge 

 of his lady's snare, and there patiently await a favourable moment, 

 when she shows signs of being in a softer mood, for pressing his 

 attentions. But the diminutive male, if weak and timid, is not 

 lacking in perseverance, and he will return again and again to 

 the attack after each repulse. A naturalist, after watching the 

 manoeuvres of these tiny spiders, writes : "In these encounters 

 the males are often injured ; they frequently lose some of their 

 legs ; and I have seen one that had only four out of his eight 

 left, still standing up to his work." 1 



The male Leaping Spiders (Attidce) go through the strangest 

 antics to attract the attention of the uncertain-tempered females, 

 who seem very much to admire the performance. In tropical 

 countries these spiders are brilliantly coloured, some shining with 

 wonderful iridescent hues. Russel Wallace has described those 

 he saw in the Malay archipelago as " perfect gems of beauty." 



Some spiders are less savage in their ways, and the males and 

 females of certain sedentary species may be found living together 

 in harmony during the mating season. 



Spiders may be roughly classed as sedentary, or wandering; 

 the former weave snares to entrap their victims, the latter hunt 

 their prey on foot. Spiders' webs vary as much as do the nests of 

 birds, and range from the tangle of irregular threads laid down with- 

 out any particular design by the " Line-weavers " to the wonder- 

 fully symmetrical and elaborate snares of the " Orb- weavers." 



The family Epeiridc? includes all those spiders that spin cir- 

 cular or wheel-like snares ; and from the remarkable regularity 

 of their work the little weavers are often called " Geometric " 

 Spiders. The common Garden Spider, Epeira diademata, is a 

 typical Orb- weaver, and her large, round web is a familiar object 

 in early autumn. She commences her work by laying down a 

 few foundation threads. She may lay the first one down " by 

 hand " by the simple method of fastening her silk to a selected 

 point and walking away with her thread trailing behind her until 

 she reaches a suitable spot to which to fix the other end of 

 her line ; or she may decide to trust to chance, and, facing the 

 wind, allow her thread to be wafted away until it is caught 

 1 Emerton, " Spiders, their Structure and Habits." 



