258 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 
until at last it was completely enclosed within a silken bag. I concluded 
that all was over with the luckless insect, an opinion which Cophinaria evi- 
dently shared, for she laid on her final lines and clambered away to the 
centre of her shield, apparently with the intention of drawing her vic- 
tim towards her to take a hearty meal. 
Scarcely had she settled herself, however, ere the bee renewed its strug- 
gles. In a moment it succeeded in cutting a little opening at one end 
of the sac, out of which first issued jaws, then antennee, then its head, 
and then its body. It was free. Instead of flying away, as one would 
have thought a reasonable insect ought to do, the bee turned with angry 
gestures upon the little ball of white silk into which had collapsed the 
enswathments out of which it had just escaped. Upon this she fast- 
ened her claws, thrust her sting ferociously into it several times, and then, 
as though she had satisfied her sense of justice and vengeance, spread her 
wings and began to ascend, 
There was an angry hum in her wings, and an ugly look in the still 
outthrust sting, which led me to step back a pace or two lest I might come 
in for a share of her wrath. She followed me for a little dis- 
tance, and then, changing her mind, mounted into the air, and 
Escape . a ; , 
ons in a moment or two was hovering over a fragrant honey- 
Bonds. ‘suckle blossom, apparently solacing herself for her recent insult 
by the sweets of nectar. What an escapade that was! And, 
if the bee only knew it, what a story of “hairbreadth ’scapes” she might 
haye told to her comrades of the hiye when she returned home. 
But how fared the spider? ‘This question interested me. I stepped 
up to the web again, and after a few moments’ waiting saw her go down 
her web lines to the roll of silken swathing. There seemed to be a 
slight movement of surprise at the character of the object; but if she 
was greatly disappointed she made little demonstration of the same. She 
seized the silken ball within her mandibles, turned- upon her path, and 
carried it back to her shield, on the upper part of which she fastened 
it, somewhat after the manner of a trussed insect set aside for food. I 
could not satisfy myself whether she had noticed the escape of her prey 
before this return. But evidently she perceived it now. A little while 
afterward I found that the swathing cloth had disappeared, and I have 
no doubt that the spider took it within her jaws and comforted herself 
by feeding upon it; perhaps a poor substitute for the juicy morsel which 
she had anticipated, but nevertheless, even with a spider, I suppose, “a 
half loaf is better than no bread,” 
I observe that the location of the web makes a great difference in 
the amount of food obtained by the spider. Those webs which have a 
favorable position for the flight of insects, in the neighborhood of the 
honeysuckle blossoms of my manse yard, for example, or in positions 
on the ampelopis vines easily approached by insects, have an abundant 
A Bee’s 
— = 
— 
