NATURAL ENEMIES 131 



improbable that their thefts amount to more than 

 petty larceny. 



Spiders are much more troublesome to bees 

 than is, I think, generally supposed. In their 

 methodical search for flowers, particularly at the 

 fag end of the summer, when they are beginning 

 to get scarce, bees are constantly under and 

 around bushes, and the cunningly set snares, 

 entrap a good many. The spider has not the 

 smallest respect for the bee, but takes care to. 

 avoid the business end by seizing the entrapped 

 insect by the head. She then causes it to revolve- 

 by manipulations of the forefeet, and uses it as-, 

 a spool upon which to wind silk until it resembles 

 a newly swathed mummy. 



10 



