Weavers and Spinners. 



tured a specimen and put it into spirits, and in a short 

 time saw entangled in the nest of one of the remaining 

 spiders a Pimelia, and of the other a Cephalostenus, 

 both rather hard-lived night-flying beetles, which 

 were seized by the spiders, and the latter, after sucking 

 out the juices, carried the empty bodies to a distance 

 of several feet from their holes. All these events 

 happened in about three hours, after which time I 

 allowed the two spiders to remain undisturbed, and 

 returned to the house. Early next morning I revisited 

 the spot, and then perceived that these two spiders had 

 entirely removed the net which they made the preceding 

 night ; but the entrance to the nest of the spider which 

 I had captured still remained open, and I could clearly 

 trace me shape of its snare on which the heavy morn- 

 ing's dew lay. The upper threads were isolated, but 

 the snare became thicker as it approached the ground. 

 I found that these snares had, strange to relate, been 

 gathered up by the two other spiders, fastened on to 

 the door, and smoothly spun over ; and on making a 

 vertical section of the doors, which were nearly a quar- 

 ter of an inch thick, I discovered that they were com- 

 posed of several layers." The young spiders, which 

 hatch from the eggs deposited by the female in her 

 nest, are soon turned out by their mother into the world 

 to fend for themselves ; which they seem fully capable 

 of doing, for they at once proceed to excavate miniature 

 shafts, line them with silk, and cap them with perfect 

 trap-doors, so that they are when finished identical in 

 all details with the home of their parent. 



Many spiders display great skill in the weaving of 

 the cocoons in which they place their eggs. While some 



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