ZOOLOGY. [PAST II. 



CHAP. vn. 



ARACHXIDA MYRIOPODA CRUSTACEA, ETC. 



WITH a few striking exceptions, the true spiders of 

 Ceylon resemble in ceconomy and appearance those we 

 are accustomed to see at home. They frequent the 

 houses, the gardens, the rocks and the stems of trees 

 and along the sunny paths, where the forest meets the 

 open country, the Epeira and her congeners, the true 

 net-weaving spiders, extend their lacework, the grace of 

 their designs being even less attractive than the beauty 

 of the creatures that elaborate them. 



Those of them that live in the woods select with sin- 

 gular sagacity the bridle-paths and narrow passages for 

 expanding their nets ; no doubt perceiving that the larger 

 insects frequent these openings for facility of movement 

 through the jungle ; and that the smaller ones are car- 

 ried towards them by currents of air. Their nets are 

 stretched across the path from four to eight feet above 

 the ground, suspended from projecting shoots, and at- 

 tached, if possible, to thorny shrubs ; and these sometimes 

 exhibit the most remarkable scenes of carnage and 

 destruction. I have taken down a ball as large as a 

 man's head consisting of successive layers rolled together, 

 in the heart of which was the den of the faniily, whilst 

 the envelope was formed, sheet after sheet, by coils of 

 the old web filled with the wings and limbs of insects 

 of all descriptions, from large moths and butterflies 

 to mosquitoes and minute coleoptera. Each layer 

 appeared to have been originally hung across the 

 passage to intercept the expected prey ; and, as it became 

 surcharged with carcases, to have been loosened, tossed 



