INSECTA. 93 



the old covering, that it is easy to mistake the cast-off 

 integument for a genuine spider. The handsomest of the 

 spider race is 



The Cross Spider (epeira diadema), and well known. 

 The posterior portion of the body is large, round, and 

 either dark brown or reddish ; when of the first-men- 

 tioned color, it is ornamented with white lines, and of the 

 second, with yellow in the shape of a cross. They are 

 skillful spinners, and arrange their webs perpendicularly 

 between two garden posts, or in the forks of a tree. The 

 manner in which they spin is remarkable. Choosing a 

 firm position, they draw one thread of two or three yards 

 long, leaving the end loose and flying until it fastens it- 

 self somewhere ; this serves as a kind of bridge, and the 

 spider running backward and forward upon it, most assi- 

 duously doubles and strengthens it for a foundation. The 

 bridge or scaffolding thus completed, the spider makes a 

 number of parallel threads, then, with the same artistic 

 precision, arranges others across, using the same clammy 

 substance to bind them to each other and perfect the 

 structure, a work which in clear weather is accomplished 

 very rapidly. At length the little creature retires to a 

 retreat formed in the bottom or middle of the web, 

 where, with its head directed downwards, it lies in wait 

 for unwary insects, which, when of the smaller kind, are 

 soon seized, dragged in this cell, and devoured. Some 

 of the larger flies make strong resistance ; in such a case 

 the spider hastens to bind the victim fast by spinning 

 strong threads round its body, so that it can neither move 

 its wings nor feet ; the prey thus secured, the tyrant 

 proceeds to devour it at once, or retains it in its silken 

 bonds to feed upon it at leisure. The female cross spider 

 is larger than the male, producing in autumn a thousand 



