INTRODUCTION. xl*. 



open course, which is not often adopted by spiders, though I 

 have seen, now and then, some species of Lycosa do so ; secondly, 

 by searching about carefully, and, when the prey is descried, 

 stopping short and leaping upon it. This is a method very 

 oommonly in use among the Lycosides, Salticides, and some few 

 of the Drassides ; thirdly, by lying in concealment until the prey 

 comes within reach ; thus spiders lie in wait, hidden, or partly so, 

 among tho petals, or other parts, of the bloom, of flowers, 

 particularly those of a composite nature, and then seize tho 

 insects which come to suck the honey. Some spiders, es- 

 pecially among tho Thomisides, who are much addicted to this 

 last mode of replenishing their larders, have a habit of elevat- 

 ing, depressing, and moving their fore legs laterally to and fro. 

 The tips of the legs, when thus protruding from among tho 

 petals of a flower in which the spider is concealed, bear a striking 

 resemblance to the stamens and anthers gently moved by the 

 wind. A friend of mine, who has noticed this, believes that 

 it is done for the express purpose of attracting insects to the 

 flower; but as the spider exercisos the habit at other times, 

 as well as when lying in wait for insects, this interpretation of 

 the fact seems scarcely tonablo ; though, no doubt, the habit tends 

 to tho spiders' advantage by disarming suspicion on the insects' 

 part. 



Anothor method of entrapping their prey, adopted by somo of 

 the most extensive families of spiders — Agelenidcs, Theridiides^ 

 and Epeirides, as well as by some othor spiders — is tho spinning 

 of snares in which the insects become entangled. This mode is so 

 well known as scarcely to need mention. Everyone who has given 

 even a cursory attention to spiders' webs will have obsorvod the 

 boautif ul geometric wheel-like snares hung upon their suspensory 

 lines over a ditch, or in gaps and openings among plants, bushes, 

 and trees. The general plan of these snares consists of a 

 number of lines radiating from a central point, and crossed, 

 at more or less regular intervals, by others in a transverse 

 direction, like the rounds of a ladder or the ratlines of a ship; 

 The cross-lines are, in fact, formed by a singlo lino passed round 



