464 ARTICULATA. [Chap. XIII. 



CHAP. XIII. 



AKTICULATA. 



Araclinida — Myriopoda — Crustacea, etc. 



With a few striking exceptions, the true spiders of 

 Ceylon resemble in oeconomy and appearance those we 

 are accustomed to see at home; — they frequent the 

 houses, the gardens, the rocks and the stems of trees, 

 and along the sunny paths, where the forest meets the 

 open country, the Epeira and her congeners, the true 

 net-weaving spiders, extend their lacework, the grace of 

 the designs being even less attractive than the beauty 

 of the creatures that elaborate them. 



Such of them as live in the woods select with sin- 

 gular sagacity the bridle-paths and narrow passages for 

 expanding their nets ; perceiving no doubt that the 

 larger insects frequent these openings for facility of 

 movement through the jungle; and that the smaller 

 ones are carried towards them by currents of air. Their 

 nets are stretched across the path from four to eight 

 feet above the ground, suspended from projecting shoots, 

 and attached, if possible, to thorny shrubs ; and they 

 sometimes exhibit the most remarkable scenes of carnage 

 and destruction. I have taken down a ball as large as a 

 man's head consisting of successive layers rolled together, 

 in the heart of which was the original den of the family, 



