THE EOMANCE OF 

 ANIMAL ARTS & CEAFTS 



CHAPTER I 

 THE MASTER CRAFTSMEN 



A persecuted race" Underground weavers " Our native representative 

 A doubtful tug-of-war An awkward doorway The trap-door 

 spider's biographer The choice of a home The secret door A 

 vagrant husband Dangerous courtship How spiders dig A careful 

 workman A pitiless enemy The tapestry frame A spider's door- 

 handleThe importance of a well-fitting door Eggs within eggs 

 Strenuous resistance The family at home A living bolt Trapping 

 by night An unexpected encounter The capture An unfortunate 

 shot The inner door An ingenious dwelling An invasion The 

 secret chamber Infant phenomena Tree - dwellers A versatile 

 family. 



AIONGST works so various as those we find in the wide 

 range of nature it is not easy to award the palm ; 

 some animals excel in one industry, some in another, 

 and we cannot say with certainty to which class the pride 

 of place belongs. There is, however, one chapter in the 

 tale of animal arts and crafts which is so wonderful that 

 anybody who does not realize the almost unlimited pos- 

 sibilities of nature might well think it the result of an 

 unusually lively imagination and regard it as pure romance. 

 Yet this strange story is true in every detail, and some of 



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