282 
ARACHNIDES. 
floating about in spring and autumn in foggy weather, vulgarly 
termed in France fils de la Vierge, are certainly produced — as we 
have satisfactorily ascertained by tracing them to their point of origin 
— by various young Araneides, those of the Epeirse and Thomisi 
particularly ; they are mostly the larger threads which are intended 
to afford points of attachment to the radii of the web, or those that 
compose the chain, and which, becoming more ponderous by the 
access of moisture, sink, approach one another, and finally form little 
pellets : we freqiiently observe them collected near the web com- 
menced by the Spider, and in which it resides. 
It is also very probable that many of these young animals not 
having as yet a sufficient supply of silk, limit their structure to 
throwing out simple threads. It is, I think, to the young Lycosee 
that we must attribute those which intersect the furrows of ploughed 
grounds, Avhose numbers are rendered so apparent by the reflection 
of light after sunrise. By chemical analysis, these fils de la Vierge 
exhibit the same characters as the web of the spider — they are not 
then formed in the atmosphere, as, for want of proper observation, 
ex visu, that celebrated naturalist, M. Lamarck, has conjectured. 
Gloves and stockings have been made with this silk ; but it was 
found impossible to apply the process on a large scale, and, as it is 
sid)jcct to many difficulties, is rather a matter of curiosity than 
utility. This substance, however, is of much greater importance to 
the little animals in question. With it, the sedentary species, or those 
which do not roam abroad in search of their prey, weave webs * of 
a more or less compact tissue, whose form and position vary accord- 
ing to the peculiar habits of each of them, and that are so many snares 
or traps, where the insects on which they feed become entangled, or 
are taken. No sooner is one of them arrested there by the hooks of 
its tarsi, than the Spider, sometimes placed in the centre of his net, 
or at the bottom of his web, or at others lying in ambush in a peculiar 
domicile situated near and in one of the angles, rushes tOAvards his 
victim, and endeaVours to pierce him Avith his murderous dart, dis- 
tilling into the Avound a prompt and mortal poison; should the former 
resist too vigorously, or should it be dangerous to the latter to 
approach it, he retreats, AA’aiting until it has either exhausted its 
poAvers by struggling, or become more entangled in the net ; but 
should there be no cause of fear, he hastens to bind it by involving 
the body in his silken threads, Avith Avhich it is sometimes completely 
enveloped. 
* Those of some exotic species are so strong, that small binls are entangled in 
them ; they even oppose a certain degree of resistance to man. 
