INTRODUCTION. XXI. 



Linyphia take up their station, in an inverted position, under 

 this sheet ; other spiders lie in wait at a little distance. 

 The snare of a very common Linyphia — L. montana, Clerck. 

 — may he seen in any hox-hush, yew, or holly hedge 

 in our gardens ; it is the most perfect of its kind, 'andj is 

 suspended by the opposed effect of the upper and lower lines . 

 being also tightly braced down by vertical lines from the under 

 side to the leaves and twigs below. I conclude that most of 

 these snares are formed at night, inasmuch as I have frequently 

 watched for a considerable period in day-time without ever 

 having been able to observe the modus operandi. The snares of 

 T/ieridion, and other allied genera, consist only of irregularly 

 intersecting lines ; that of the Agelenides is a more compact 

 horizontal sheet, and in connection with it is constructed a 

 tubular or funnel-shaped retreat, in which the spider lives. The 

 most perfect snare of this sort is that of Agelena lahjrinthica 

 (p. 67). Others of this group, belonging to spiders of the 

 genera Tegenaria and Amaurobius, may be seen any day, in tho 

 angles of unused rooms, outhouses, and cellars. 



Spiders lines may frequently be observed strained across open 

 spaces, of sometimes many feet and even yards, in extent. This 

 has been explained, by some naturalists, to have been done by 

 the help of a current of air carrying the thread across. I can- 

 not, of course, say that it never has been thus effected ; though 

 I have certainly never myself witnessed it. I have, however, on 

 several occasions, seen a spider fix its line, then run down to the 

 ground, across the intervening space, and so up the opposite 

 side, trailing its line as it went ; and then having hauled in the 

 slack, it fixed the line to the desired spot. This I believe to be 

 the usual mode of proceeding in such cases. 



The expedition with which, when once set about, spiders con- 

 struct their webs, has already been noticed, and it is again 

 raferred to in the description of Linyphia triangularis (p. 228). 

 Other spiders are equally expeditious, and the knowledge of this 

 is not without practical utility. A case once occurred in which the 

 oonviction or acquittal of a prisoner turned upon whether an 



