

TEGENERIA MEDICINALIS. 



spider is in kings' palaces," and kings and queens too may 

 learn a lesson from it, as well as others. Spiders have not 

 had justice done to them ; they are a much more interesting 

 race than many suppose. They improve on acquaintance ; 

 the better they are known, the more they are admired. At 

 that time a whole colony of them were encamped by the 

 road-side, within the compass of half a mile. " As he was 

 rather a gigantic spider, his tent, instead of being on the 

 ground, was elevated like the house of a giant of whom in 

 early life most have been made acquainted. It was built on 

 the tops of the common grass, Holcus lamatus, more than a 

 foot above the ground. Had he built his house on the top of 

 one stalk of grass, the house and its inhabitant might have 

 borne down a single slender stalk. But he had contrived to 

 bring together several heads whose roots stood apart, and 

 with cordage, which he could furnish at will, had bound them 

 firmly together, so that his elevated habitation was anchored 

 on all sides. From whatever airt the wind blew> it had at 

 once hawser and stay. Not only did he bind the heads to- 

 gether, but he bent, doubled, and fastened them down as a 

 thatch roof, under which his habitation was suspended. As 

 he was a larger spider than usual, his house was large ; the 

 more capacious department appeared to be the nursery, being 

 below, and the smaller one his observatory or watch-tower, 

 being above, from which he could pounce on his prey, or, in 

 case of hostile attack, could make his escape by a postern 

 gate, so as to conceal himself among the grass. 



" During my visit in June last, on my return from Whiting 

 Bay," says the reverend gentleman, " I was anxious to ascer- 

 tain whether this interesting colony of tent-makers was still in 

 a thriving state, and, not seeing any at first, I began to fear that 

 a Highland clearance had taken place. But when I at last 

 discovered a few of them, I saw that, as there are times of low 

 trade among our industrious two-footed artisans in towns, so 

 are there occasionally hard times among our six-footed oper- 

 atives in the country. The field in which they encamped had 

 probably become over-stocked. The stately Holcus had been 

 eaten down, but these shifty children of the mist had availed 

 themselves of the heather, doubling down the tops of some 

 of the heath-sprigs, and under this thatched canopy forming 

 their suspension-tabernacles. As yet, however, it was too 

 early in the season. The house had only one aperture, the 



