THE SPIDER KIND. 159 



free. But her parental care does not terminate with their ex- 

 clusion ; she receives them upon her back for some time, until 

 they have strength to provide for themselves, when they leave 

 her never to return, and each begins a separate manufactory of 

 its own. The young ones begin to spin when they can scarcely 

 be discerned ; and prepare for a life of plunder before they have 

 strength to overcome. Indeed nature seems to have formed 

 them in every respect for a life of hostility. No other insect is 

 possessed of such various powers of assault and defence ; and 

 they are able to destroy animals ten times bigger than themselves. 

 Even after a severe defeat they quickly recover of their wounds ; 

 and as for their legs, they consider the loss of them as but a 

 small misfortune, as they grow again very speedily to their for- 

 mer magnitude. 



Thus there is no insect to which they are not an enemy ; but 

 what is more barbarous still, spiders are the enemies of each 

 other. M. Reaumur, who was fond of making experiments 

 upon insects, tried to turn the labours of the spider to human ad- 

 vantage, and actually made a pair of gloves from their webs. 

 For this purpose, he collected a large number of those insects 

 together ; he took care to have them constantly supplied with 

 flies, and the ends of young feathers, fresh picked from chickens 

 and pigeons, which being full of blood, are the diet that spiders 

 are particularly fond of. But notwithstanding all his care, he 

 was soon convinced that it was impracticable to rear them, 

 since they were of such a malignant nature, that they could 

 never be brought to live in society, but, instead of their usual 

 food, chose to devour each other. Indeed, were it practicable 

 to reconcile them to each other, it would require too much at- 

 tendance to rear up a sufficient number to make the project any 

 way useful. The thread is four, if not live times finer than that 

 of the silk-worm ; so that, upon the smallest calculation, there 

 must have been sixty thousand spiders to make a single pound 

 of silk. That which Reaumur made use of, was only the web 

 in which they deposited their eggs, which is five times stronger 

 than their ordinary manufacture. 



Of this animal there are several kinds, slightly differing from 

 each other either in habits or conformation. The water spider 

 is the most remarkable of the number. This insect resembles 

 the common spider in its appearance, except that its hinder part 

 is made rather in the shape of a nine-pin than a ball. They 

 differ in being able to live as well by land as water, and in be- 

 irig capable of spinning as well in one element as the other. 

 Their appearance under water is very remarkable ; for though 

 they inhabit the bottom, yet they are never touched by the ele- 

 ment in which they reside, but are inclosed in a bubble of air 



