GROUND SPIDERS. 1Q3 



Chapter VI. 



GROUND SPIDERS. 



Do insects really possess mind? If not, what is it 

 that often impels them to behave precisely as reasoning 

 beings ? Some time since I read in the " Scientific Rec- 

 ord " of Harper's Magazine the following passage : 



" M. Felix Dujardin, of Rheims, verified in the nerv- 

 ous system of insects a centre of true brain, above the 

 throat, imbedded among air-tubes, salivary glands, and 

 fat. Hardened by alcohol or spirits of turpentine, its 

 form and structure appeared beneath the microscope in 

 regular convolutions, like those of our own cerebral 

 hemispheres, and the outside pulp removed left nerve 

 tracts winding into a white and firmer substance, like 

 the nucleus of the white invertebrata." 



If any one will closely observe the behavior of in- 

 sects — especially ants, wasps, or spiders — he will not be 

 at all startled or surprised with the announcement that 

 these humble creatures have brains like our own 



Many spiders build for themselves homes — not merely 

 nests to rear the young, like birds and some of" the 

 higher animals, but homes to which they become strong- 

 ly attached. 



