130 DESCRIPTIONS OF THE NESTS AND EGGS OF SPIDERS. 



the reader with the names of the species to which the accompanying- 

 figures relate. 



Fig. 1. Represents a spider's nest, formed by an old oak leaf being- 

 doubled and supported upon a rush, 

 which penetrates the top of it. 

 The sides of the leaf are apart from 

 one another, but are prevented 

 from spreading, by means of a thick 

 web of silk extending from the 

 margin of the one to that of the 

 other. The two extremities of 

 the upper part of the leaf are al- 

 ways open, so as to allow of the 

 little inhabitant escaping upon the 

 approach of danger. The first spe- 

 cimen I ever noticed I met with in a 

 field near Wormwood Scrubbs, but 

 I now find them in nearly every 

 field in which oak trees grow; and 

 in none of them do 1 notice any 

 difference, except in the size of 

 the leaf and the height at which 

 it is supported from the ground. 



Fig. 2. Is that of an irre- 

 gularly shaped deposition of 

 eggs, found about a week 

 since, attached to a piece of 

 grass, on Hampstead Heath. 

 The eggs are enveloped in 

 snowy white silk, which also 

 folds round the ends of two 

 sprigs of grass, which, bend- 

 ing, act as its suspenders. 



