OR, PLAIN TEACHING. 



287 



from the gage, or other rich plums ; but the 

 prime object of their visit was to seize the wasps 

 that frequented the same places. This they 

 not only did when the creature was feeding on 

 the fruit, but would hawk after them when on 

 the wing ; capture them with a facility to 

 which their heavy flight seemed unequal ; 

 bear them to some neighbouring plant, and 

 there feed on the insect, which seemed per- 

 fectly overpowered by the might of the hornet. 

 The first operation was to snip off the head, 

 then to cut away the lower part by the waist ; 

 and, when near, we could hear them shearing 

 away the outer coat from the body, and crushing 

 it with their strong mandibles ; . sometimes 

 devouring it, but generally only sucking the 



juices it contained. Their avidity for this sort 

 of food is very manifest, when the grape ripens 

 on the wall : being commonly the only remain- 

 ing fruit, the wasp abounds there ; the hornets 

 flock to the prey, and we may see them in con- 

 stant progress, bearing their victims from the 

 bunches. The wasp itself seizes the house-fly; 

 but this seems rather the display of wanton 

 power than for food, as it bears the fly about 

 with it for a length of time, and drops it uncon- 

 sumed. The fly, in its turn, is conducive, after 

 its manner, to the death of many an animal. 

 We know not any insect that destroys the 

 hornet , but its power and being are terminated 

 by some very effective agent, as in particular 

 years it is almost unknown. 



1 



7io. 



Of all the minute creatures 

 that attract us in our country 

 rambles, spiders, though not the 

 most pleasing to the sight, are 

 most interesting to the contem- 

 plative naturalist. 



Spiders have been celebrated in every age for 

 their webs, or filmy tissues, in which they 

 entangle their prey, or conceal themselves or 

 their progeny from observation. These webs 



are composed 01 tn reacts, me prouneuon ui a 

 curious apparatus, situated under the abdomen, 

 and called the spinneret. These spinnerets are 

 four, or more, mammillary processes, perforated 

 by innumerable minute orifices, through which 

 are drawn thousands of separate lines of a glu- 

 tinous fluid, the product of certain vessels, or 

 secreting reservoirs, destined to furnish the 

 material: the lines quickly harden, and at a 

 little distance from the spinneret become united 

 together, and form a single cord composed of 

 many thousand parallel lines of inconceivable 

 fineness. 



The webs of spiders consist either of clcss 



