RESEARCHES UPON SPIDERS. . 55 



ially among their branches, a numerous polony can be 

 easily and quickly formed. But, these being spiders of 

 various kinds, besides the difficulty of affording them subsis- 

 tence, since each species provides for itself in a peculiar 

 manner, there would result from all those together a silk 

 scant in quantity, uneven, and unfit for use in the arts. It 

 is true that in the course of his researches he found it ne- 

 cessary to separate the species in order to recognize the 

 product of each and to decide which was the best suited for 

 rearing, but he did not examine the matter with the sagac- 

 ity which we had a right to expect from the father of ento- 

 mology ; since he did not conclusively determine what spe- 

 cies of spider is most industrious and therefore preferable. 

 He says, indeed, that the fourth, species is, for cultivation as 

 well as for productiveness, the most desirable. But how 

 does he determine the species ? He says it is that which 

 ordinarily stands perpendicular to the horizon, and to 

 which Homberg gives the name of garden spider, although it 

 is commonly found in the woods and among bushes, and he 

 adds that it contains a great number of secondary species 

 varying in size, in figure and in color ; he says that all these 

 spiders spin threads useful in some manufactures but that 

 some give silk so weak as not to be serviceable for solid 

 work. 



Any one can see how obscure and indefinite is this style 

 of description of Reaumur's, which seems to confound spe- 

 cies (genera?) with varieties (species?) and to deduce spe- 

 cific differences from variations in size and color ; character- 

 istics which may depend upon age, food, &c. 



Afterward, without sufficient ground, he asserts that 

 the spiders live in continual war among themselves, and de- 

 stroy each other ; whence it would be difficult, if not impos- 

 sible to multiply them enough to obtain any considerable 

 product. We, not knowing whether the spiders which had 

 the credit of this were of the same or different species, 

 could not determine if their voracity and cruelty are mani- 

 fested among individuals of the same or among those of dif- 

 ferent' species, and I should add that this voracity, not nat- 

 ural to the spider, may, however, be occasioned by the nar- 

 rowness of their prison and by hunger. 



