194 The Naturalist in La Plata. 



their falces, and never once actually touched each 

 other, but the fight was none the less deadly. 

 Rapidly revolving about, or leaping over, or passing 

 under, each other, each endeavoured to impede or 

 entangle his adversary, and the dexterity with 

 which each avoided the cunningly thrown snare, 

 trying at the same time to entangle its opponent, 

 was wonderful to see. At length, after this equal 

 battle had raged for some time, one of the com- 

 batants made some fatal mistake, and for a moment 

 there occurred a break in his motions ; instantly 

 the other perceived his advantage, and began leap- 

 ing backwards and forwards across his struggling 

 adversary with such rapidity as to confuse the sight, 

 producing the appearance of two spiders attacking 

 a third one lying between them. He then changed 

 his tactics, and began revolving round and round 

 his prisoner, and very soon the poor vanquished 

 wretch — -the aggressor, let us hope, in the interests 

 of justice — was closely wrapped in a silvery cocoon, 

 which, unlike the cocoon the caterpillar weaves for 

 itself, was also its winding-sheet. 



In the foregoing pages I have thrown together 

 some of the most salient facts I have noted ; but 

 the spider-world still remains to me a wonderland 

 of which I know comparatively nothing. Nor is 

 any very intimate knowledge of spiders to be got 

 from books, though numberless lists of new species 

 are constantly being printed ; for they have not yet 

 had, like the social bees and ants, many loving and 

 patient chroniclers of their ways. The Hubers and 



