FOOD or INSECTS. 



351 



spinning their concentric circles, it is seldom that they can be 

 caught laying the foundations of their snares. Yet. doubtless 

 the lucky moment might be hit by an attentive observer, and 

 I shall be glad if my attempt to describe their more ordinary 

 operations should induce you to aim at signalising yourself by 

 the discovery. If you failed in solving every difficulty, you 

 would at least be rewarded by witnessing their industry, in- 

 genuity, and patience. 



For the latter virtue they have no small occasion. Incapable 

 of actively pursuing their prey, they are dependent upon what 

 chance conducts into their toils, which, especially those spread 

 in neglected buildings, often remain for a long period 

 empty. Even the geometrical spiders, which fix themselves 

 in the midst of a well-peopled district in the open air, have 

 frequently to sustain a protracted abstinence. A continued 

 storm of wind and rain will demolish their nets, and preclude 

 the possibility of reconstructing them for many days or some- 

 times weeks, during which not even a single gnat regales their 

 sharp-set appetites. And when at length formed anew or re- 

 paired, an unluckly bee or wasp, or an overgrown fly, will 

 perversely entangle itself in toils not intended for insects of its 

 bulk, and in disengaging itself once more leave the net in 

 ruin. All these trials move not our philosophic race. They 

 patiently sit in their watching place in the same posture, 

 scarcely ever stirring but when the expected prey appears. 

 And however repeatedly their nets are injured or destroyed, as 

 long as their store of silk is unexhausted, they repair or recon- 

 struct them without loss of time. 



The web of a house-spider will, with occasional repairs, 

 serve for a considerable period ; but the nets of the geometric 

 spiders are in favourable weather renewed either wholly, or at 

 least their concentric circles, every twenty-four hours, even 

 when not apparently injured. This diiference in the operations 

 of the two tribes depends upon a very remarkable peculiarity 

 in the conformation of their snares. The threads of the 

 house-spider's web are all of the same kind of silk ; and flies 

 are caught in them from their claws becoming entangled in 

 the fine meshes which form the texture. On the other hand, 

 the net of the garden spider is composed of two distinct kinds 



