Ne nee en 
242 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 
break the web in which it is entangled. This scene, concludes the 
author, only ends with the serpent’s death.? 
I had often wished for an opportunity to follow up critically one of 
the recurring reports of the physical powers of spiders. This wish was 
gratified in the summer of 1882. An article drifted through American 
newspapers which detailed the ensnaring of a living mouse by a Ken- 
tucky spider. I was fortunately able to trace the story to its origin in 
the Lebanon (Ky.) “Standard and Times.” Correspondence with its in- 
telligent editor, Mr. J. W. Hopper, brought me entire confirmation of 
the report from a number of trustworthy sources. I think the incident 
of sufficient importance to justify a somewhat detailed presentation. The 
original account as published by Mr. Hopper is as follows :— 
“A very curious and inter- 
esting spectacle was to be seen 
Monday afternoon in 
Mouse the office of Mr. P. C. 
Pane Cleaver’s livery stable 
SS in this city. Against 
PSGS Te oS the wall of the room stands a 
e ARSE —=- tolerably tall desk, and under 
this a small spider, not larger 
than a common pea, had con- 
structed an extensive web reach- 
ing to the floor. (Fig. 222.) 
About half past eleven o'clock, 
Monday forenoon, it was observed 
that the spider had ensnared a 
young mouse by passing fila- 
ments of her web around its tail. 
When first seen the mouse had 
its fore feet on the floor and 
could barely touch the floor with 
its hind feet. The spider was 
full of business, running up and 
down the line and occasionally 
biting the mouse’s tail, making 
it struggle desperately. 
“Tts efforts to escape were all 
unayailing, as the slender filaments about its tail were too strong for it 
to break. In a short time it was seen that the spider was slowly hoisting 
its victim into the air. By two o’clock in the afternoon the mouse could 
barely touch the floor with its fore feet; by dark the point of its nose 
ho 
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Fic. 222. Diagram of a mouse hanging in a spider’s snare. 
1 Pliny, Natural History, Chapter X., page 9. 
