364 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



this one, which, not contented with a web like the rest 

 of their congeners, take advantage of other materials 

 to construct cells where, " hushed in grim repose," 

 ihey " expect their insect prey." The most simple of 

 those spider-cells is constructed by a longish-bodied 

 spider ( Aranea holosericea, Linn.), which is a little 

 larger than the common hunting-spider. It rolls up a 

 leaf of the lilac or poplar, precisely in the same manner 

 as is done by the leaf-rolling caterpillars, upon whose 

 cells it sometimes seizes to save itself trouble, having 

 first expelled, or perhaps devoured, the rightful owner. 

 The spider, however, is not satisfied with the tapestry 

 of the caterpillar, and always weaves a fresh set of 

 her own, much more close and substantial. 



Another spider, common in woods and copses 

 (Epeira quadrata ?) weaves together a great number 

 of leaves to form a dwelling for herself, and in front of it 

 she spreads her toils for entrapping the unwary insects 

 which stray thither. These, as soon as caught, are drag- 

 ged into her den, and stored up for a time of scarcity. 

 Here also her eggs are deposited and hatched in safety. 

 When the cold weather approaches, and the leaves of 

 her edifice wither, she abandons it for the more secure 

 shelter of a hollow tree, where she soon dies ; but the 

 continuation of the species depends upon eggs, de- 

 posited in the nest before winter, and remaining to be 

 hatched with the warmth of the ensuing summer. 



The spider's den of united leaves, however, which has 

 just been described, is not always useless when with- 

 ered and deserted; for the- dormouse usually selects 

 it as a ready-made roof for its nest of dried grass. 

 That those old spiders' dens are not accidentally chosen 

 by the mouse, appears from the fact, that out of about 

 a dozen mouse-nests of this sort found during winter 

 in a copse between Lewisham and Bromley, Kent, every 

 second or third one was furnished with such a roof.* 

 * J. R. 



