A BEAST OF PREY 49 



silk, and attached, as the first illustration shows 



you (No. i), to 

 the under side of 

 a piece of trel- 

 lis-work, against a 

 cottage wall, partly 

 overgrown with ivy. 

 Within this snug 

 abode the tiny eggs, 

 each wrapped in its 

 own internal cover- 

 let, escaped the 

 cold of winter, and 

 hatched out in early 

 spring with the first 

 burst of warm sun- 

 shine. It was a 

 bright May morning 

 when they ventured 

 abroad. The tiny 

 spiders, just freed 

 from their shell, with 

 its outer great-coat, 

 let themselves down 

 by short webs to an 



ivy-leaf below, where they clustered for a while, 

 after the queer fashion of their species, in a sort of 



D 



NO. I. COCOON OF YOUNG SPIDERS 

 HATCHING, AND SWARMING OF 

 THE CLAN ON AN IVY-LEAF. 



