BRITISH SPIDERS. 85 



CASE Epeira diademata {Clcrck), Diadema, Bl.—Q. Enlarged figure of ditto. 

 VII. 



No. 9. This is the species known as the " garden spider." In France 

 it is the " Porte-croix" or " Croix de St. Denis." 



It is common in our gardens in September. The cocoon is 

 formed in October, and is about f in. in diameter, of a roundish 

 shape and yellow colour, and contains a 

 flattened mass of eggs. When the eggs 

 are newly hatched, which takes place in 

 spring, it is said that the following curious 

 sight may be seen. The little spiders, 

 almost as soon as they leave the tgg, spin 

 a small irregular mass of almost invisible 



T • .1 "JJ1 c ^ ' ^ A^ i . Epeira diademata (slightly 



lines, m the middle 01 which they cluster magnified). ' 



together, forming themselves into a little 



ball about the size of a cherry stone. This hangs apparently in 

 mid-air, and if an observer, approaching it to discover its nature, 

 touches some one of the slender lines by which it is suspended, or 

 some twig near enough to communicate the motion to them, in 

 an instant some six or eight hundred living atoms begin to dis- 

 perse — the solid little ball seeming for a moment to be turning into 

 smoke, so minute are the animals, so rapid their motions, and so 

 invisible the means of their dispersion. After a few seconds, if 

 the disturbance be not repeated, the little creatures begin to sub- 

 side again into a cluster, but this is not at once restored to its 

 former small size ; and, indeed, it is easy to understand that up- 

 wards of six thousand legs, however small, must require some 

 time in the packing, not to mention six or eight hundred pairs of 

 poison fangs, which perhaps, even at this early age, may exact 

 due observance on behalf of their respective owners. 



This spider has, like some others, a habit of quivering rapidly 

 in its web. It has, also, a mode of disabling a victim, by twirling 

 it, and at the same time winding threads around it, till it is 

 entirely swathed in a strong silken covering. By this means large 

 and strong insects are reduced to a meekness of demeanour which 



