88 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



passed over them in safety, drawing a second line after them, as a security in case tlie first gav6 

 way, and so effected ilieir escape." 



Nf.sts, Webs, and Nkts of Spiders. — " Of all ports of insects," says Mr. Rennie, " none have 

 afforded me more divertisemrnt than the vena/ores (hunters), which are a sort of h/pi (wolve.s) 

 that have their dens in rafju'od walls and crevices of our houses; a small brown and delicately 

 spotted kind of spiders, whose hinder legs are longer than the rest. Such I did frequently ob- 

 serve at Rome, which, espying a fly at three or four yards distance, upon the balcony where I 

 stood, would not make directly to her, bnf, crawl vnder the mil, liU being arrived tu the antipo- 

 des, it would steal up, seldom missing its aim ; hrit if it chanced to want anything of being 

 perfectly opposite, would, at first peep, immediately slide do7vn again — till taking better notice, 

 it would come the next time exactly vpon the fly's hack : hut if this happened not to be within a 

 competent leap, then would this insect move so softly, as the very shadow of the gnomon seemed 

 not to be more imperceptible, unless the fly moved ; and then would the spider more also in the 

 same proportion, keeping that jnst time with her motion, as if tiie same soul had animated 

 both these little bodies ; and whether it were forward, backward, or to either side, without at all 

 turning her body, like a well-managed horse ; but if the cap7-icio-us fly took wing and pitched 

 ■upon another place behind our huntress, then would the spider whirl its body so nimbly about 

 as nothing could be imagined more sivift ; by which means she always kept the head tcnoard 

 her prey, though, to appearance, as immovable as if it had been a nail driven into the icood, till 

 by that indiscernible progress (being arrived within the sphere of her reach) she made a fatal 

 leap, swift as lightuiug. upon the fly. catching him in the pole, where she never quitted hold till 

 her belly was full, and then carried the remainder home.'" 



One feels a little skeptical, however, when he adds, 



"I have beheld them instriicting their young ones how to hunt, which they \^'ould sometimes 

 discipline for not well observing ; but when any of the old ones did (as sometimes) miss a leap, 

 they would run outof theflcJd and hide themselves iji their crannies, as ashamed, andhaply not 

 to be seen abroad for four or five hours after ; for so long have 1 watched the nature of this 

 strange insect, the contemplation of whose so v^onderful .sagacity and address has amazed me ; 

 nor do I find in any cha.se whatsoever more cunning and stratagem ob.served. 1 have (ound some 

 of these spiders in my garden, when the weather toward spring, was very hot, but they are not 

 BO eager in hunting as in Italy*." 



We have only to add to this lively narrative, that the hunting-s})ider, when he leaps, take* 

 good care to provide against accidental falls by always swinging himself from a good strong 

 cable of silk, as Svvammerdam coiTectly states,t and which anybody may recognize as one 

 of the small hunters (Salticus scenicus), known by its back striped with black and white 

 like a zebra. 



The geometric or net-working spider (see Fig. 12) are as well known as any of the pre- 

 ceding; almost every bush and tree in our gardens and hedge-rows having one or more of 

 their nests stretched out in a vertical position between adjacent branches. The common 

 garden spider (Epeira diaderna), and the long-ljodied spider (Tctragnatha extensa), are 

 the best known of this order. 



" The chief care of a spider of this sort," says Mr. Rennie, " is, to form a cable of sufficient 

 strength to bear the net she means to hang upon it ; and after throwing out a floating line as above 

 described, when it catches properly, she doubles and redoubles it with additional threads. On 

 trying its strength she is not contented with the test of pulling it with her legs, but drops herself 

 down several feet from various points of it, as we have often seen, swinging and bobbing with 

 the whole weight of her body. She proceeds in a similar manner with the rest of the frame of 

 her wheel-shaped net ; and it may be remarked that some of the ends of these lines are not sim- 

 ple, but in form of a Y, giving her the additional security of two attachments instead of one." 



In constructing the body of the nest, the most remarknble circumstance is the using of 

 her limbs as a measiu-e, to regulate the distiuices of her radii or wliecl-spokes (see Fig. 12, 

 Plate IV. which presents the geometric net of the " Epeira diaderna'' ), iuid the circular 

 meshes interwoven into them. These are consequently always proportional to the size of 

 the spider. She often takes tip her station in the center, but not always, though it is so 

 said by inaccurate writers ; but slie as frecpiently lurks in :i little cliamber constructed under 

 a leaf or other shelter at tiie comer of her web, ready to dart down ujjon whatever prcv 

 may be entangled in her net. The center of the net is said also to be composed of more 

 viscid materials than its suspensory lines — a circumstance alleged to be proved l)y the fonner 

 appearing under tlie microscope studded with gloI)ule8 of gtmi.t " We have not been able," 

 eays Mr. Rennie, " to verify this distinction, having seen the suspensory lines as often stud- 

 ded in this manner as those in the center." 



At the coininencetnent of the liist century, a method was discovered in France by Mon- 

 sieur Bon, of procuring silk from spiders' bags, and its use was attempted in the mainifac- 

 ture of several articles. Mr. Bon has, however, noticed only two kinds of silk-making spi- 

 ders, and these lie has distinguished from each other as having cither long or short legs, the 

 last variety producing the finest quality of raw silk. According to this ingenious obsen-er, 



* Evelyn'B Travels in Italy. 1 Book of Nature, part j. p. i?4. % Kirby and Spence, Intr. i 419. 



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