a a a a 
266 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 
It frequently occurs that the insects entangled upon a snare are never 
used by the spider; although a most voracious creature, her ap- 
Unused petite is necessarily limited, and, at all events, she becomes some- 
Entan- : ee : 5 
pad what dainty as her appetite is satisfied, and will not trouble her- 
Insects. Sclf with insects of a minor sort. Indeed, many large spiders, 
except when very hungry, pay no attention to the small insects 
strung upon their webs. 
It is surprising how many of these will be arrested in the course of the 
day. I have counted as many as two hundred and thirty-six insects, great 
and small, hanging upon various parts of the web of Epeira 
A Mos-  sclopetaria, after the proprietor had abandoned the day’s work 
quito ; : ‘ 
Train, and retired to her nest to await the evening meal. One day, 
while crossing the long bridge over Deal Lake, Asbury Park, I 
stopped to count the number of insects upon a web spun just beneath the 
bridge, and noticed that thirty-six mosquitoes had been entangled. Cer- 
tainly this was a goodly amount of service for one spider to render a most 
unappreciative and ungrateful humanity. 
A friend has recently been deeply interested in the problem whether 
dragon flies, or, as they are sometimes called, mosquito hawks, might not be 
reared in sufficient numbers along the seashore to keep in check the immense 
number of mosquitoes that sometimes make life at our watering places very 
unsatisfactory to guests. There is no telling what artificial propagation 
may accomplish in this direction, and, at all events, all experiments in 
natural science are worthy of consideration until they are demonstrated 
to be impracticable. But I venture to suggest that the most effective nat- 
ural checks upon the increase of insect pests are their natural enemies, 
the spiders. If men would abate the unreasonable prejudice which they 
have against this most friendly and helpful animal, they probably would 
suffer less from the raids of that piping and piercing pest, the American 
mosquito. 
The spider is doubtless Nature’s chief check against the undue increase 
of insects. Despised Arachne is entitled by her services to occupy the chief 
place among invertebrate philanthropists. She is, I might al- 
Nature’s most say, absolutely harmless to mankind. With the exception 
Sane of an occasional alleged “spider bite” issuing in suffering or 
death, and delivered by the traditional and indefinite “ black 
spider,” I know of no evil that can be charged against her. True, as long 
ago the wise Proverbialist said, “The spider taketh hold with hands, and 
is in king’s palaces.”! She builds her cobwebs in our homes, but there 
is no harm in that. If one will take the pains to study the cobwebs, they 
will be found beautiful structures, and, at all events, the housewife can 
brush them away without encouraging hatred for the harmless creature 
1 Holy Scripture, Proverbs xxx. 28. 
