150 A NATURAL HISTORY 



their PafTage ; there being often manifeft Signs of Slaughter, as 

 Legs, and Wings of FHes .... on thefe Lines, as in their Webs 

 below *. 



Spiders have been obferved to get to the Top of a Branch 

 or fuch like thing, where they exercife this darting of Threads 

 into the x'\ir. After the firft Flight, all the time of their failing 

 on thofe Threads, they make Locks, ftill darting forth frelh Sup- 

 plies of Thread to fport and fail by. N. B. Thofe called Shep- 

 herds, or long-legg'd Spiders, are no Spinners. 



I H A V E feen Spiders, fays the Learned Dr. Hulfe-f, fhoot their 

 Webs three Yards long before they begin to fail upon them. So 

 the Learned Derhatji obferves, that with pleafure he had often 

 feen Spiders dart out their Webs, and fail away by the Help 

 thereof. 



AMER ICA turns out diverfe kinds of thefe araneous In- 

 fects: In Peru are Spiders as large as a Man's Hand, and have 

 Eyes as big as thofe of Sparrows. In Brajil there is one kind of 

 Spider, whofe Skin is rough and black, and whofe Sting proves 

 incurable, without immediate Relief. On the other hand, we 

 read of monftrous Spiders in the Antilles, whofe Eyes are fo fmall 

 and deep in the Head, that they are fcarcely vifible : They feed 

 on flying Infedis, and their Webs are ftrong enough to catch fmall 

 Birds + 



CETL N'm the Eajl-lnd'm produces a long, glittering, and 

 hairy Spider, called DetJioculo, whofe Wound is not mortal, but 

 fometimes deprives People of their Senfes. There is an Experi- 

 ment made by Mr. Leewenhoeck, who put a Frog and Spider to- 

 gether into a Glafs, and having made the Spider fting the Frog 

 diverfe times, the Frog died in about an hour's time |). 



There is another Inflance of the Poifon of fome of them 

 (for all are not poifonous) given by the Learned Scaliger, who 

 relates, that in Gafcony in France^ there are Spiders of that Viru- 

 iency, that if a Man treads upon them to crufh them, their Poi- 

 fon will pafs thro' the very Soles of his Shoe ||, 



* Lotufhoip, vol. ii. p. 794. + Ibid. vol. i. p. 555. 



X Atl. Geog. Amcr. p. 179, 2(>^, 519. 



II Scahger Exercit. in Boy/e's SuhtH. Efflu. Thilof. Tr anfaE'wns . Where ^here ij a 

 curious Account iiow Spiders lay and guard their Eggs. Derha?n. 



