134 CURIOUS LEAF-CELL. 



sitting near its mouth, the lurker, shaded by the darkness of 

 her covered way, is ready to rush forth and seize on the first 

 hapless wanderer that becomes entangled in her fatal web. 

 This cunning artificer can only be captured by the artifice of 

 getting behind, and driving her upwards and out of her tunnel, 

 into which she always descends upon the first alarm. 



In addition to the silken material of which they always 

 carry with them an internal magazine, there are various out- 

 door Spiders which employ leaves in the construction of their 

 retreats, and that after a fashion both ingenious and elegant. 



We have sometimes plucked a rolled up lilac or young oak- 

 leaf, expecting to find it tenanted by a leaf-rolling Caterpillar, 

 when, lo ! upon the scroll being opened, out ran a small long- 

 bodied Spider, which, after lining it with silk, had taken pos- 

 session of it as his cell. Structures more spacious, consisting 

 not of one, but of several leaves lined and united by a silken 

 web, serve often for the abodes of various Spiders found in 

 woods and gardens; but of these, few are so curious and 

 elegant as a single-leaf cell which we have often found on 

 nettles. In this the point and sides of the leaf being turned 

 over so as to meet at the edges, are conjoined with silk, and 

 on carefully forcing up one of the corners of the green triangle, 

 we intrude on the domestic privacy of a maternal Spider, 

 keeping tender watch over her bag or ball of eggs. 



Everybody must have sometimes noticed (both within doors 

 and without), a spider thus brooding over a ball iisually bigger 



