178 THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS 



We came across many queer insects. One red grass- 

 hopper when it flew seemed as big as a small sparrow; 

 and we passed in some places such multitudes of active 

 little green grasshoppers that they frightened the mules. 

 At our camping-place we saw an extraordinary colony of 

 spiders. It was among some dwarf trees, standing a few 

 yards apart from one another by the water. When we 

 reached the camping-place, early in the afternoon — the 

 pack-train did not get in until nearly sunset, just ahead 

 of the rain — no spiders were out. They were under the 

 leaves of the trees. Their webs were tenantless, and in- 

 deed for the most part were broken down. But at dusk 

 they came out from their hiding-places, two or three hun- 

 dred of them in all, and at once began to repair the old 

 and spin new webs. Each spun its own circular web, and 

 sat in the middle; and each web was connected on sev- 

 eral sides with other webs, while those nearest the trees 

 were hung to them by spun ropes, so to speak. The result 

 was a kind of sheet of web consisting of scores of wheels, 

 in each of which the owner and proprietor sat; and there 

 were half a dozen such sheets, each extending between two 

 trees. The webs could hardly be seen, and the effect was 

 of scores of big, formidable-looking spiders poised in mid- 

 air, equidistant from one another, between each pair of 

 trees. When darkness and rain fell they were still out, 

 fixing their webs, and pouncing on the occasional insects 

 that blundered into the webs. I have no question that they 

 are nocturnal; they certainly hide in the daytime, and it 

 seems impossible that they can come out only for a few 

 minutes at dusk. 



In the evenings, after supper or dinner — it is hard to 



