354 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



When we observed our long-bodied spider eager 

 to throw a line by raising up its body, we brought 

 within three inches of its spinnerets an excited stick 

 of sealing-wax, of which it took no notice, nor did 

 any thread extend to it, not even when brought almost 

 to touch the spinnerets. We had the same want of 

 success with an excited glass rod : and indeed we had 

 not anticipated any other result, as we have never 

 observed that these either attract or repel the floating 

 threads, as Mr. Murray has seen them do; nor have 

 we ever seen the end of a floating thread separated 

 into its component threadlets and diverging like a 

 brush, as he and Mr. Bowman describe. It may be 

 proper to mention that Mr. Murray, in conformity 

 with his theory, explains the shooting of lines in a 

 current of air by the electric state produced by motion 

 in consequence of the mutual friction of the gaseous 

 particles. But this view of the matter does not seem 

 to affect our statements. 



Nests, Webs, and Nets of Spiders. 



The neatest, though the smallest, spider's nest which 

 we have seen, was constructed in the chink of a gar- 

 den post, which we had cut out the previous summer 

 in getting at the cells of a carpenter-bee. The archi- 

 tect was one of the larger hunting-spiders, erroneously 

 said by some naturalists to be incapable of spinning. 

 The nest in question was about two inches high, 

 composed of a very close satin-like texture. There 

 were two parallel chambers placed perpendicularly, 

 in which position also the inhabitant reposed there 

 during the day, going, as we presume, only abroad 

 to prey during the night. But the most remarkable 

 circumstance was, that the openings (two above and 

 two below) were so elastic that they shut almost as 

 closely as the boat-cocoon of the Tortrix chlorana 



