FOOD OF INSECTS. 407 



progress at any point of her descent : and, according to 

 Lister 3 , she is also able to retract her threads within the 

 abdomen ; but this is doubted, and with apparent reason, 

 by De Geer b . 



The only other instruments employed by the spider 

 in weaving are her feet, with the claws of which she 

 usually guides, or keeps separated into two or more, the 

 line from behind ; and in many species these are admi- 

 rably adapted for the purpose, two of them being fur- 

 nished underneath with teeth like those of a comb, by 

 means of which the threads are kept asunder. But an- 

 other instrument was wanting. The spider in ascending 

 the line by which she has dropped herself from an emi- 

 nence, winds up the superfluous cord into a ball. In 

 performing this the pectinated claws would not have been 

 suitable. She is therefore furnished with a third claw 

 between the other two c , and is thus provided for every 

 occasion. 



The situations in which spiders place their nets are 

 as various as their construction. Some prefer the open 

 air, and suspend them in the midst of shrubs or plants 

 most frequented by flies and other small insects, fixing 

 them in a horizontal, a vertical, or an oblique direction. 

 Others select the corners of windows and of rooms, 

 where prey always abounds ; while many establish them- 

 selves in stables and neglected out-houses, and even in 

 cellars and desolate places in which one would scarcely 

 expect a fly to be caught in a month. It is with the 

 operations of these last especially, that we are accus- 



a Hist. Aram. Aug. p. 8. b De Goer, vii. ISO. 



r Lecuw. Opusc. iii. 317. £ 1- 



