SEDENTARY SPIDERS. WATER SPIDERS. 



223 



FIG. 444. MALMIGNATTE. 



their web, they whirl threads around it, so as to secure it 

 effectually. They take great pains in the 

 preservation of their eggs, and do not leave 

 them until they are hatched. In one 

 common species which frequents our 

 dwellings, the female gums her eggs into 

 a rounded body, unprotected by a cocoon ; 

 and this she bears about in her jaws. 

 Other species live out of doors, and con- 

 struct their webs among trees. To this 

 group belongs the Malmignatte, an inhabit- 

 ant of Tuscany and Corsica; which is 

 reputed to be very venomous. 



759. The last family of Araneidee, the NATANTES, or Water- 

 Spiders, closely resembles the preceding in structure ; and should 

 scarcely, perhaps, be separated from it. They live entirely 



upon or beneath the 

 water ; and are ena- 

 bled, by the hairi- 

 ness of their bodies, 

 especially on their 

 under surface, to en- 

 tangle and carry 

 down with them a 

 supply of air for 

 their respiration. One very interesting species, the Argyroneta 

 aquatica, or Diving Spider, not only employs its silken threads 

 to entangle its prey, but forms with it an oval bag, of such 

 close texture that it is impervious to air or water; this is attached 

 by threads to aquatic plants, at a considerable depth below the 

 surface ; and its under side is open, like that of a Diving Bell ; 

 so that the Spider can freely pass in and out. Here it retreats 

 to devour its prey ; and here, too, it constructs its egg-case, and 

 even passes the winter. The mode in which it fills this with air, 

 when about to take up its residence in it, is very curious. The 

 hairs upon its body entangle so large a quantity of air, as to 

 render it quite buoyant ; in order to descend to its bell, there- 

 fore, it is obliged to creep along the stems of aquatic plants; and 



445. DIVING SPIDER. 



