10 Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society Vol. XI 



third species which is exceedingly skillful and graceful. This 

 begins the weaving operation by extending threads in all direc- 

 tions so far as the web is to cover. It then determines the cen- 

 ter accurately, and from this point starts with a new thread, 

 weaving, so to speak, the woof which is to connect all the threads 

 of the warp. Its sleeping place and store room are put at some 

 little distance. It watches for prey at the web center. An in- 

 sect caught anywhere stirs the center, whereupon the spider sur- 

 rounds and encloses it with web tissue until it becomes resistless. 

 Then it is carried to the store room. If hungry the spider sucks 

 the victim at once, for this is the way she takes her food. If 

 not, she hurries back to wait for more prey, stopping only to 

 mend the tears in the web. If in her absence any new victim 

 has become entangled she goes first to the center of the web, 

 thence as before to the attack. If her web be destroyed, she 

 begins spinning another at sunset, for then prey is most abundant. 

 Only the female makes webs and catches prey. The male merely 

 enjoys it with her. 



" There are two species of the graceful spiders which spin 

 thick webs, one large and one small. The long-legged kind 

 watches from above the web so as not to alarm a creature which 

 would otherwise fall in. This is because her size prevents her 

 from being inconspicuous. The smaller kind hides in a little 

 upper chamber. 



" Spiders have the power of ejecting web material as soon as 

 they are born. The tissue does not come from within their 

 bodies, as Democritus asserts, but from the surface, like the bark 

 of a tree or the quills of a porcupine. 



" Spiders will attack and surround with web animals much 

 larger than themselves, even small lizards. They first enweb 

 the mouths of their victims, then approach and bite. The ich- 

 neumons and the gecko lizards are great enemies of the spider." 



While Aristotle's observations are sometimes far from accu- 

 rate, he did pretty well for a pioneer. Nicander of Cos studied 

 the subject a century or so later. He catalogued thirty species 

 of spiders, treating of their use in medicine. His written work 

 is lost, but we have the testimony of Pliny, the Roman, on the 

 subject. 



