422 food or insects. 



Nor must you suppose that all the spiders of this coun- 

 try which catch their prey by means of snares, follow the 

 same plan in constructing them as the weavers and geo- 

 metricians whose operations I have endeavoured to de- 

 scribe. The form of their snares and the situation in 

 which they place them are so various, that it is impossible 

 to enumerate more than a few of the most remarkable. 

 Aranea labyrinthica, L. extends over the blades of grass 

 a large white horizontal net having at its margin a cylin- 

 drical cell, in the bottom of which, secure from birds and 

 defended from the rays of the sun, the spider lies concealed, 

 whence on the slightest movement of her net she rushes 

 out upon her prey. A. latens, F. conceals itself under a 

 small net spun upon the upper surface of a leaf, and thence 

 seizes upon any insect that chances to pass over it. A. 

 1 ^-guttata, Rossi, forms under stones and in slight fur- 

 rows in the ground a net consisting of threads spun with- 

 out any regularity in all directions, but so strong as to 

 entrap grass-hoppers, which are said to be its principal 

 food ; and a similar inartificial snare of simple threads is 

 often spun in windows by A. bijnmctata, L. and several 

 other species. A. senoculata and its affinities conceal 

 themselves in a long cylindrical straight silken tube, from 

 the mouth of which they stretch out their six anterior feet, 

 whose extremities rest upon as many diverging threads : 

 thus, as soon as an insect walks across any of the threads 

 (which are eight or ten inches long) the insect's toes give 

 it warning of prey being at hand, when it rushes out and 

 seldom fails to secure its victim. 



"The spider's touch how exquisitely fine ! 

 Feels at each thread, and liveb along the line," 



