PROCURING FOOD AND FEEDING. 259 



supply of food. Others, less favorably situated, are seen feeding less 

 rarely. In this matter of location the spider is very much dependent 

 upon chance. The force or endurance of a current of wind 

 Location d urm g the first aeronautic flight, or the particular obstruction 

 Controls u p Qn wnicn the balloon may be arrested, will be circumstances 



determining the future habitat of the Orbweaver. 

 More frequently the range of life action is determined by the po- 

 sition in which the maternal cocoon is suspended, the natural tendency 

 of spiderlings after egress being to distribute themselves in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of their birth. But Orbweavers do crawl about from point 

 to point and shift the site of their snares. I have known one to change its 

 position by passing along one or two intervening city fences into an ad- 

 joining yard. The course and extent of these migrations are determined 

 by the position and continuity of the foliage. But so strong is the seden- 

 tary habit of Orbweavers that they will suffer a great amount of priva- 

 tion before leaving the neighborhood, or indeed the immediate site of their 

 snares. If for any reason this should happen to be poorly stocked with 

 the creatures' natural food, their chance for growth and life is poor indeed; 

 and I have no doubt that sometimes they perish from starvation. 



In certain positions it is doubtless true that the excess of life goes to 

 supply the lack of life nutrition. In other words, spiders are cannibals, 

 and prey upon each other. The cocoons formed by female Orb- 

 Feeding weave rs usually send forth large colonies of younglings. As soon 

 ^ h ' as they set up housekeeping for themselves they begin to prey 

 upon each other and upon all other sorts of araneads. The 

 strong, or skillful, or fortunate devour the weaker, less cunning, and the 

 unlucky. A few only survive ; the great majority must go to give nourish- 

 ment to the few and secure the perpetuation of the species. Undoubtedly, 

 in certain sites, this redundancy of life through maternal fecundity is an 

 important, even an essential, factor in the food supply of spiders. 



One who has observed the habit of spiders to spin their webs across 

 cowpaths, footpaths, and the various trails leading through meadows, pas- 

 ture lands, and woodlands, must have had occasion to reflect 

 ea ing U p On the uncertainty of spider possessions, and perhaps have 

 'felt a touch of pity for the industrious creatures whose pains- 

 taking work is so continually broken down by passing animals and men. 

 It is certainly true that great loss is thus caused, and that spiders are con- 

 tinually subject to the destruction of their snares by all manner of passing 

 creatures ; yet there is some compensation for this destruction. 



I have often noticed that, as I walked back and forth over the fields, 

 the grasshoppers, crickets, and other insects were stirred up by my move- 

 ments, leaped or flew to this side or to that, and in their alarm and 

 haste numbers of them struck the snares of the near by spiders, were at 

 once entangled, and became the prey of the waiting proprietors. Thus it 



