THE GARDEN SPIDER. 239 



hollow tubes perforated at the extremity there is reason to 

 suppose that each kind of thread is produced by its own pair 

 of spinnarets. 



Another point in the construction of these webs, so exactly true 

 in all their proportions, is that they are executed entirely by the 

 sense of touch. The eyes are situated on the front of the body 

 and on the upper surface, whereas the spinnarets are placed 

 at the very extremity of the body on the 

 under-surface, the threads being always 

 guided by one of the hind-legs, as may be 

 seen by watching a garden-spider in the act 

 of building or repairing her web. To place 

 the fact beyond a doubt, spiders have been 

 confined in total darkness, and yet have 

 spun webs as perfect as if they had been Tubular spinnaret 

 suspended in the open daylight. 



All spiders require patience, for they have often a long time 

 to wait before they entrap their prey, and even the garden 

 spiders are subject to long privations, in spite of their consum- 

 mate skill. Continual stormy wea.ther destroys their nets, and 

 frequently prevents their making a new one for many a day ; so 

 that during the protracted period of involuntary fasting, not 

 even a gnat can be caught to satisfy their hunger. And when 

 at length the new net is suspended, a colossal wasp or huge bee 

 comes flying against it, and tears a prodigious breach in its deli- 

 cate texture. But the philosophic spider bears all the bufferings 

 of adverse fortune with exemplary patience, and instead of 

 breaking out into useless complaints, immediately sets to work, 

 and in a short time the damage is fully repaired. 



Besides the netmaking spider, there are many others that 

 are satisfied with less artificial snares for entrapping their prey. 

 Some draw their threads over the surface of a leaf, and thus 

 catch the insects that heedlessly wander over the treacherous 

 ground ; others spin them under stones or in the fissures of the 

 soil. In hollow walls, in the crevices of windows, the fero- 

 cious Segestria conceals her body in a cylindrical tube, open at 

 both ends, from which only her forefeet project, ready to rush 

 upon her prey. She weaves no web, but merely draws a few 

 threads about the hole in which she has fixed her abode. As 

 soon as an unwary fly touches one of them, she immediately 



