THE GARDEN SPIDERS 



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the spinnerets, not in a single thread like that of which the web 

 is composed, but in a broad, ribbon-like band. In a very few 

 minutes the prisoner is completely swathed like a mummy in this 

 silken band, and of course can struggle no more. The spider then 

 bites it with its venomed jaws, and leaves 

 it, still rolled up, until it is hungry and 

 requires a meal. At times one may see five 

 or six of these insect mummies in the web 

 of a single spider. 



Spiders employ their silk for other pur- 

 poses than that of spinning a web wherein 

 to entangle their prey. If they wish to 

 descend from a height, for instance, they 

 easily lower themselves by a single stout 

 thread; and, if alarmed, they can ascend 

 this line again to the place whence they 

 started. Some spiders, too, travel for long 

 distances through the air by simply spin- 

 ning a loose thread, to which they cling, 

 and allowing the wind to bear them whither it will, 

 generally known as Gossamer Spiders. 



The eggs of a spider are always encased in a silken bag, which 

 is either put carefully away in some place of security, or carried 

 about by the mother until the little ones are hatched. We may 

 often find these egg-bags on fences and walls, or under the loose 

 bark of trees. 



Many spiders make dwelling-places of silk, and some of these 

 habitations are very remarkable. Among long grass, or in tangled 

 herbage, we may often find a spider's retreat, in the form of a 

 conical or a four-sided silken case, in the centre of which the 

 spider sits watching for prey. So closely woven are the walls of 

 this little dwelling that we cannot see the spider through them. 

 Directly we touch her home, however, she comes hastily out and 

 runs away with great rapidity. 



Spider's Foot 



These are 



