392 Insect Architecture. 



Among our native spiders there are several besides this 

 one, which, not contented with a web like the rest of their 

 congeners, take advantage of other materials to construct 

 cells where, " hushed in grim repose," they " expect their 

 insect prey." The most simple of those spider-cells is 

 constructed by a longish-bodied spider (Aranea holosericea, 

 LINN.), which is a little larger than the common hunting- 

 spider. It rolls up a leaf of the lilac or poplar, precisely 

 in the same manner as is done by the leaf-rolling cater- 

 pillars, upon whose cells it sometimes seizes to save itself 

 trouble, having first expelled, or perhaps devoured, the 

 rightful owner. The spider, however, is not satisfied with 

 the tapestry of the caterpillar, but always weaves a fresh set 

 of her own, much more close and substantial. 



Another spider, common in woods and copses (Epeira 

 quadrata?), weaves together a great number of leaves to 

 form a dwelling for 'herself, and in front of it she spreads 

 her toils for entrapping the unwary insects which stray 

 thither. These, as soon as caught, are dragged into her den, 

 and stored up for a time of scarcity. Here also her eggs 

 are deposited and hatched in safety. When the cold weather 

 approaches, and the leaves of her edifice wither, she abandons 

 it for the more secure shelter of a hollow tree, where she 

 soon dies ; but the continuation of the species depends upon 

 eggs, deposited in the nest before winter, and remaining 

 to be hatched with the warmth of the ensuing summer. 



The spider's den of united leaves, however, which has 

 just been described, is not always useless when withered and 

 deserted, for the dormouse usually selects it as a ready-made 

 roof for its nest of dried grass. That those old spiders' dens 

 are not accidentally chosen by the mouse, appears from the 

 fact, that out of about a dozen mouse-nests of this sort 

 found during winter in a copse between Lewisham and 

 Bromley, Kent, every second or third one was furnished with 

 such a roof. (J. K.) 



