216 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



but he has not the quickness of the spider, nor can 

 he spread a net over a large surface, and issue from 

 his citadel to seize a victim which he has caught in 

 his outworks. He is therefore taught to dig a trap, 

 where he sits, like the unwieldy giants of fable, wait- 

 ing for some feeble one to cross his path. How 

 laborious and patient are his operations — how un- 

 certain the chances of success ! Yet he never shrinks 

 from them, because his instinct tells him that by 

 these contrivances alone can he preserve his own ex- 

 istence, and continue that of his species. 



