BUILDER. 



SIMPLE nests and tubes are all the majority of spiders 

 construct for their homes. The larger and better known 

 webs for catching insects are made by comparatively few 

 species. He who is astir in the grass-fields on damp sum- 

 mer mornings, will everywhere see innumerous flat webs, 

 from an inch or two to a foot in diameter, which weather- 

 wise folks consider prognostic of a fair day. These webs 

 may always be found upon the grass at the proper season, 

 but only become visible from a distance when the dew is 

 upon them, making the earth appear as covered by an almost 

 continuous carpet of silk. 



By far the greater number of these nests is of the form 

 which is termed funnel-webs, which consist of a concave 

 sheet of silk, constituted of strong threads, crossed by finer 

 ones, which the author spins with the long hind-spinnerets, 

 swinging them from side to side, and laying down a band of 

 threads at each stroke, the many hundred threads extending 

 in all directions to the supporting spears of grass. The web 

 is so close and tight that the footsteps of the spider can be 

 distinctly heard by the attentive, listening ear as she runs 

 hither and thither over its scarcely bending surface. At one 

 side of the web is a tube, leading down among the grass- 

 stems, which serves as a hiding-place for the owner of the 

 web. Here, at the top, and just out of sight, the spider 

 ordinarily stands, waiting for something to light upon the 

 web, when she eagerly rushes out, seizing the prey unluckily 

 caught and carrying it into her tube to eat. If too formida- 

 ble an insect comes upon the web, she turns herself round, 



