SPIDEJiS. 



455 



SPIDERS. 

 Blackwall, in his valuable work on Spiders, has taught us how 

 numerous are the British spiders. 



" The spider spreads her webs, whether she be 

 In poet's tower, cellar, or barn, or tree." — Shelley. 



The common Garden Spider {Epeira diadema, fig. 1013) delights us 

 with the perfect geometric web which it constructs. 

 It does a limited amount of good by destroying 

 flies, but not to such an extent as to be really im- 

 portant. In our glass-houses we have a consider- 

 able number of the Agelena labyrintheca, which 

 constructs a large sheet of web (fig. 1014), at one ^'°' '° milrged.™ '" " 

 corner of which it makes a circular den ; into this it retires and 

 watches for its victim, upon which it pounces, carrying it to the den 

 to be devoured. It looks altogether a most infernal apparatus. 



Fig. 1014. — Web of Agelena labyrintheca. 



In the spring we often see a Red Spider {Trombidium Ho lover icum), 

 which attracts our attention from the brightness of its colours ; and 

 also Hunting Spiders, which are remarkable for their extreme activity. 



We sometimes see the Gossamer at Wallington, but not to be 



compared with the quantity which may be observed on the Continent 



in the autumn. 



'^Slow through the air 

 Gossamer floats, or s'.retch'd from blade to blade 

 The wavy network whitens all the field."— Gilbert White. 



All spiders are useful to the gardener, but certainly could not of 

 themselves entirely protect the garden from the ravages of insects. 



