﻿FIELD AND FOREST. 121 



March, as I rode to visit a patient I espied a thread or small cord 

 stretching completely across the road, and stopping my horse, I per- 

 ceived that it was a wide strand of spider web, which I could easily 

 trace across the road and over the pine straw and tufts of grass on the 

 side, till it reached a large pine tree, and it was clearly visible on the 

 trunk of the tree to a height of twenty or twenty-five feet. 



Being curious to know what the spider was about, to cause it to ex- 

 pend its web so lavishly, I dismounted and followed the strand to the 

 other side of the road and traced it up a bank and over it, down again 

 a few inches, till it stopped on the lid of the trap door, which was 

 held open by the cord about an eighth of an inch at the widest part. 

 The opening presented exactly the appearance or shape of the cres- 

 cent moon, a few days old. 



Going back to examine the silken pathway again, I discovered 

 troops of little insects marching along it like ants, in their progress to 

 and from their nest. The little fellows resembled our largest sized 

 wood ticks, however, more than ants, and in parties of three or four, 

 up to eight or ten, were wending their way to and up into the pine 

 tree. 



Having secured four specimens — they were very shy and not easily 

 caught — I put them in an empty vial in my case and turned to exam- 

 ine the rest. Lifting the lid with a straw I perceived a large black 

 looking, thick-set spider near the mouth, but, as the lid spread open, 

 she retired to the recess of her den, which was an inch or more in di- 

 ameter, and beautifully lined with a silvery web. The lid slipping 

 from the straw in its sudden descent, broke the slender thread which 

 had held it ajar, and it closed, so that no sign of a crack remained. 



FIELD RECORD. 



An Ancient Apple Tree. — During a severe storm four years ago, 

 there was blown down upon the farm of Reed P. Clark, in London- 

 derry, N. H., a large apple tree, whose history is worthy of note. It 

 was a seedling known as the Beebox, and careful inquiry among the 

 oldest residents of the neighborhood, established the fact that it was 

 noted for its great size more than a hundred years ago. At the time 



