246 THE HARMONIES OF NATURE. 



recover it, persevering regardless of her own danger,, and reso- 

 lutely remaining on the spot, in spite of every effort to force her 

 to leave it. 



As the chief use of the spiders in the household of Nature 

 consists in their checking the inordinate increase of the insect- 

 tribes, they may naturally be expected to be most numerous 

 where they are able to find the most abundant prey. Thus their 

 headquarters are in the torrid zone, and here also, where so 

 many beetles, flies, and moths attain a size unknown in the 

 temperate regions, we find by a beautiful harmony of Nature 

 the spiders growing to similar gigantic dimensions, and forming 

 webs proportioned to the bulk of the victims which they are 

 intended to ensnare. But their numbers are also very great in 

 the temperate regions of the globe, and the morning dew fre- 

 quently shows the hedges and meadows covered with their 

 countless webs, brought out in silvery relief. 



Extending in gradually diminishing numbers to the North, 

 they ascend" the slopes of high mountains, and even dive into 

 the darkness of nightly caves, where, though deprived of sight, 

 they manage to catch their prey in a manner which to us is 

 totally incomprehensible. 



Thus the eyeless stalita taenaria dwells in the Grotto of Adels- 

 berg, where she lies in ambush for the yellow cave-beetle (Lep- 

 todirus Hohemvartii), which has likewise been doomed to pass 

 its life in subterranean darkness. Even on the insect-teeming 

 surface of the earth, the patient spiders are frequently obliged 

 to wait a long time for a repast ; here in this thinly-peopled 

 cave the stalita must have brought patience to perfection. Her 

 appearance on the snow-white stalactites, which she resembles 

 in colour, and where she becomes visible only in a strong light, 

 is remarkably striking. Like a vision she sweeps away in her 

 ivory robe, accompanied by the lengthening shadow she throws 

 back in her flight, so that a superstitious or fanciful observer 

 might easily take her for the spirit of the place. 



