SPIDERS. 31 



side of this barbarous custom may, of course, also 

 fall to be considered. 



Something equally distressing has to be chronicled 

 of the spiders. For it is certain that Madame Spider 

 fs, on the whole, a regular virago. She beats and 

 mauls her husband, and, if police courts existed in 

 spider society, the magistrates would have a busy time 

 of it in the way of fines, imprisonments, and judicial 

 separations. Not content with exercising marital 

 authority, in the reverse order to that in which this 

 species of command is usually exerted, Mrs. Spider 

 has actually been known to make an end of her mate 

 by slaying and, distressing to relate, by devouring 

 him also. 



One De Geer, who is quoted by Kirby and Spence, 

 relates that he has seen the male spider " seized by 

 the object of his attentions, enveloped by her in a web, 

 and then devoured a sight which," adds the sym- 

 pathetic narrator, " filled him with horror and indigna- 

 tion." In a society where manslaughter or homicide 

 seems to be the especial privilege of the female sex, 

 we may cease to feel surprised at anything; and, 

 having decried the vices, so we may extol the virtues 

 of this curious race. Spiders, let us note, are not 

 " insects," in any sense. People are too fond of 

 calling everything an " insect " of whose rank in nature 

 they are not quite certain. 



From coral-polypes up to centipedes, all are " insects" 

 to the uninstructed mind, and of course the spiders 

 could hardly escape the imputation of being included 

 in that class. But, while an insect has six legs, a 

 spider has eight ; and, while an insect has a pair of 

 " feelers," a spider has none, as such. Again, in the 

 absence of wings and in the manner of breathing, as 



