482 TftE GARDEN SPIDER'. 



by hunger, approached and attacked the stranger^ 

 It returned several times to the charge ; and in 

 these different conflicts its enemy became deprived 

 of almost all its claws: it carried these away, and re- 

 tired to its' former situation to devour them. The 

 meagre one had likewise lost three of its own 

 claws, on which also it fed ; and M. Le Vaillant 

 perceived that by this repast its plumpness was in 

 some measure restored. The day following, the 

 new comer, deprived of all its means of defence, 

 fell a complete sacrifice. It was speedily devoured j 

 and in less than twenty-four hours the old inhabi- 

 tant of the bell became as plump as it was at the 

 first moment of its' Confinement *. 



From the bags in which the young of the Garden 

 Spider are produced, an attempt has been made to 

 manufacture a kind of silk, which has in some de- 

 gree proved successful. With some trouble thir- 

 teen ounces of these bags were collected. They 

 were beaten for some time with a stick to free them 

 from dust, and then washed in warm water till 

 they were perfectly clean. After this they were 

 steeped in a pot with soap, nitre, and gum 

 arabic, and then boiled in the same mixture over 

 a gentle fire for two or three hours. Clean warm 

 water was again used to free them from the soap, 

 &c. ; andj after having being laid for some days to 

 dry, they were loosened with the fingers previously 

 to being carded by the common silk-carders. A 

 beautiful ash-coloured silk was thus obtained, easy 



* Le Vaillant's New Travels, Introd. p. xxxix. 



