126 THE NATURALIST IN BEEMUDA. 



tion ; if not, the habits of this insect must have changed 

 since those days, for we never saw a web stretching any- 

 thing like seven fathoms (42 feet) in breadth ; and thiak 

 we should be much nearer the mark if we were to place 

 the greatest breadth at twelve to fifteen feet. Again, a bird 

 the size of a thrush would easily break through the strongest 

 web, and we believe it is only the small and barely full- 

 fledged young of the white-eyed greenlet (Vireo Twveboror- 

 censis) that has been known to become entangled in the 

 meshes of this web. 



Being particularly anxious to test the strength of the 

 sUk, we one day caught an Epeira, and taking hold of the 

 end of the silken thread hanging from its body, began to 

 ■wind upon a piece of paper, and succeeded iu obtaining a 

 few yards of beautiful light yellow-coloured silk, — and this 

 single thread was so strong that we could pull it slightly 

 without breaking it. We were informed that the 'Mudian 

 ladies made use of it for sewing purposes. The insect is of 

 a large size, having, with fore and hind feet, a span of four 

 to five inches. It is prettily coloured ; body yellow, with 

 white dots ; head, dark brown. How they find food, and 

 where, m the hot weather, we are at a loss to guess, for their 

 webs contain only a few scattered remains of cicadses and 

 " hard backs," barely sufficient we should think, to support 

 the plump and rotund figure of Epeira clavipes. Towards 

 the close of the month of October, when the fierce equi- 

 noctial gales, accompanied with heavy raias, put an end to 

 the bright hot sunny days of summer, the " silk spider " and 

 his web alike disappear together ; and, instinctively taught 

 that fruitless it would be to endeavour to repair damages, 

 and withstand the fury of the elements, he adopts the wiser 



