342 



FOOD OF INSECTS. 



operations of these last especially that we are accustomed to 

 associate the ideas of neglect and desertion by man — associ- 

 ations which, both in painting and allegory, have been often 

 happily applied. Hogarth, when he wished to produce a 

 speaking picture of neglected charity, clothed the poor's box 

 in one of his pieces with a spider's net ; and the Jews, in one 

 of the fables with which they have disfigured the records of 

 Holy Writ, have not less ingeniously availed themselves of the 

 same idea. They relate that the reason why Saul did not 

 discover David and his men in the cave of AduUam ' was, 

 that God had sent a spider which had quickly woven a web 

 across the entrance of the cave in which they were concealed; 

 which being observed by Saul, he thought it useless to in- 

 vestigate further a spot bearing such evident proofs of the 

 absence of any human being."^ 



The most incurious observer must have remarked the great 

 difference which exists in the construction of spiders' webs. 

 Those which we most commonly see in houses are of a woven 

 texture similar to fine gauze, and are appropriately termed 

 wehs ; while those most frequently met with in the fields are 

 composed of a series of concentric circles united by radii 

 diverging from the centre, the threads being remote from 

 each other. These last, which in their simple state, or still 

 more when studded with dew drops, you must have a thou- 

 sand times admired, are with greater propriety termed nets ; 

 and the insects which form them proceeding on geometrical 

 principles may be called geometricians, while the former can 

 aspire only to the humbler denomination of weavers. I shall 

 endeavour to describe the process followed in the construction 

 of both, beginning with the latter. 



The weaving spider which is found in houses, having se- 

 lected some corner for the site of her web, and determined 

 its extent, presses her spinners against one of the walls, and 

 thus glues to it one end of her thread. She then walks along 

 the wall to the opposite side, and there in like manner fastens 

 the other end. This thread, which is to form the outer 

 margin or selvage of her Aveb, and requires strength, she 



1 1 Sam. xxiv. 4. 



2 Lesser, L. ii. 291. 



