ABOUT SPIDEES AND THEIE WEBS. 

 CHAPTER IV. 



WATER SPIDERS. 



TT7E have already seen that there arc spiders who pass 

 ' ' the greater part of their lives in the ground, and 

 we now come to a most remarkable group, which live 

 almost entirely under water. I believe that they are 

 never found in salt water, but they are tolerably common 

 in most ditches and streamlets, provided the current be 

 not a strong one. 



That spiders should live under water is the more 

 remarkable because they breathe atmospheric air, and 

 might reasonably be expected to die after a long sub- 

 mersion. So they would but for a curious provision of 

 nature, which permits them to store below the surface a 

 sufficient amount of air for respiration. 



