INTRODUCTION. xxxix 
their webs in certain folitary and clofe places^ 
to which it is very difficult for flies and even 
for gnats to penetrate ; and I concluded that, 
as thefe animals muft long remain without 
food, they were capable of enduring confider- 
able abftinence and hunger. 
To be affured of this circumftance, I took a 
large garden fpider, which I inclofed under a 
glafs bell, well faftened round the bottom 
with cement, and in this fitUcition I left it for 
ten months together. Notwithftanding this de- 
privation of food, it appeared during the whole 
, period equally vigorous and alert ; and I re- 
marked no other alteration than that its belly, 
which at the time of its imprifonment was the 
fize of a nut, decreafed infenfibly till at lafl It 
was fcarcely larger than the head of a pin. 
I then put under the bell another fpider of 
the fame kind. At firil: they kept at a dif- 
tance from each other, and remained motion- 
c 2 • lefs ; 
