94 NATURAL HISTORY. 



yellowish eggs, which they inclose in hags or cocoons, 

 spun over with silk ; this important task accomplished, 

 the mother spider dies. The young come forth in May, 

 and soon afterwards hegin to spin. As they begin life 

 by hundreds, and can, consequently, do much damage in 

 gardens, it is necessary to destroy them, which is easily 

 done with spirits of turpentine. This family is not 

 poisonous. 



The Water Spider (argyroneta aquatica) is longish, 

 dark brown, with hairy feet, and lives the whole year 

 round in stagnant waters and ditches ; it does not, as is 

 generally supposed, run on the top of the water, but 

 swims. Water spiders have large pincers in front ; they 

 swim on their backs, turning the under surface of their 

 bodies upwards. As they dart along on the top of the 

 water, they look like little balls of quicksilver. This 

 brilliant appearance is bestowed by the air-bladders found 

 on the posterior part of the body and feet. When they 

 want a new inspiration, they turn the posterior portion 

 of the body outwards. Their appearance under the 

 water is very remarkable ; they are enclosed in a bubble 

 of air which surrounds them like a box. This bubble, 

 looking like a diving-bell made of thick, white silk, is 

 about as large as a pigeon's egg, adheres to their hairs, 

 and enclosed within it, they perform their several func- 

 tions of eating, spinning, etc., without any disturbance 

 to their operations. 



The Tarantula (lycosa tarantula) is one inch long, 

 spotted black above, red below, and is found in southern 

 Italy and North Africa. Their bite is considered dan- 

 gerous, particularly in hot weather. It was a popular 

 belief in the early times, and still exists in lower Italy, 

 that the bite of the tarantula occasioned a kind of St. 



