FLOWERS AND INSECTS 157 



But in each case the caterpillar worked 

 his way out of the bag and tumbled down 

 among the roots of the iris ; so perhaps 

 the spider merely tied him up to save the 

 web. 



One caterpillar crossed from leaf to leaf 

 on a strand of web, as deftly as if he had 

 been an habitual rope-walker. My oldest 

 boy fed insects to a spider, and reported a 

 capacity on the latter's part of fifteen flies 

 an hour, and you could nearly see the spider 

 swell. Yet once, when I gave a small 

 white caterpillar to our biggest spider, she 

 rolled her prey in web, as usual. Then I 

 blew upon her. She may have suspected 

 mischief from that breath, because she 

 ran into a lower corner of her house ; 

 whereas the shaking of iris leaves by the 

 wind had never bothered her. Soon the 

 caterpillar freed his head and began to 

 work his way out. The spider was after 

 him once more, and this time remained, 

 eating him, as it seemed, through the cover. 

 This cob eats her own kind, too; for we 

 found the remains of another species of 

 spider in the web. There must have been 



