422 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
some fifty of them were standing together with abdomen in air 
pouring forth a regular stream of silk in hopes of connecting 
with another tree. In one case a few threads caught on to a 
tree fully twelve feet away; the near ends were then promptly 
fastened down, and a Spider would advance cautiously along, 
strengthening the thread and hauling in the slack as she went, 
but in every case the thread broke. After many attempts to 
thus retreat further they gave it up, and went on with the work 
of making a new nest. The foundations of this were made by 
forming a dome-shaped canopy some eighteen inches in diameter 
over the top of the bush, the Spiders running backwards and 
forwards in all directions laying down the silk. I presume that 
eventually the edges of this canopy would be drawn together to 
form the outer shell of the nest, but unfortunateiy I was unable 
to remain longer to watch the process, and as I never found an 
opportunity to revisit the spot, I never learnt the sequel of this 
interesting chapter in the life-history of Stegodyphus. 
In conclusion, I may mention that I have recently discovered 
a singular messmate of the Social Spiders. This is none other 
than one of the Micro-Lepidoptera! The larve in their frass- 
covered cases reside among the débris of dead insects, on which I 
presume they feed. [have not yet reared the imago, but hope to do 
so before long. In a nest I opened yesterday I found six empty 
pupa-cases, from which the moths had evidently emerged; how — 
they managed to escape right from the heart of the nest seems 
little short of a marvel. Truly these venturesome insects pass 
their lives in the very jaws of death, and the struggle for 
existence must be keen indeed to compel them to resort to such 
an abode. 
