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slaughter each other without mercy. There is scarcely any 

 resemblance between the males and females. It appears, 

 according to the observations of Degeer, that at the season 

 of reproduction, the female receives the male without the 

 least movement, or giving him the slightest cause of appre- 

 hension. In this respect, the males of this species are far 

 more fortunate than most of their confreres, who, in their 

 amorous essays, are in a state of perpetual alarm, lest they 

 should be devoured by their mistresses. 



The abdomen of the females enlarges considerably, as the 

 time of laying the eggs approaches. The cocoon, composed 

 of a loose silk, is placed close by the web. Lister has some- 

 times seen two, one by the side of the other, but unequal in 

 size, one of which contained the young, and the other the 

 eggs. These eggs, tolerably numerous, are of a reddish 

 colour, bordering on brown, and not agglutinated together. 

 The same observer has found some cocoons in the middle of 

 June ; but he has also seen at the commencement of Septem- 

 ber, a great number of females with their males, in the same 

 webs, and ready to lay. He presumes that the latter conceal 

 their cocoons under the moss, and at the roots of old trees, to 

 preserve them from the rigours of winter. It is clearly cer- 

 tain, that many of these eggs, those probably which have 

 been first laid, exclude the young before vt'inter, Lister having 

 met, in the month of November, a great number of young 

 ones of this species casting threads, suspended with them, 

 hovering in the air, and repeating these manoeuvres, until they 

 had escaped from his hands. 



The EpeiRjE most generally remain at the centre of their 

 snare, the body being immersed, or the head downwards. 

 But others construct for themselves a dwelling near the web, 

 either entirely arched, and sometimes in the form of a silken 

 tube, sometimes composed of leaves connected together by 

 threads, or open at the top, and like a cup, or a bird's nest. 



