THE GARDEN SPIDER. 



Capable of enduring long abstinence. 



strong and durable net, in the centre of which 

 she places herself with her head downward to 

 wait for her prey. 



M. le Vaillant having frequently remarked that 

 spiders spread their webs in solitary and confined 

 places, to which it is sometimes difficult for flies 

 to penetrate, naturally concluded that these crea- 

 tures must frequently remain long without food, 

 and that consequently they were capable of en- 

 during considerable abstinence. In order to prove 

 this circumstance, he took a large garden spider 

 (whose belly was about the size of a nut) and in- 

 closed it under a glass bell, which he secured with 

 cement round its bottom, and left in this situation 

 for ten months. Notwithstanding this depriva- 

 tion of food, it appeared during the whole time 

 equally vigorous and alert ; but its belly de- 

 creased, till at last it was scarcely larger than the 

 head of a pin. He then put under the bell to it 

 another spider of the same species. For a little 

 while they kept at a respectful distance from 

 each other, and remained motionless : but pre- 

 sently the meagre one, pressed by hunger, ap- 

 proached and attacked the stranger. It returned 

 several times to the charge, and in these differ- 

 ent conflicts its enemy became deprived of al- 

 most all its claws : it carried these away, and 

 retired to its former situation to devour them. 

 The meagre one had likewise lost three of its 

 own claws, on which also it fed ; and M. le Vail- 

 lant perceived that by this repast its plumpness 



