268 
PART III. NATURAL HISTORY. 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
Article I. — Observations on the Common House Spider. 
By Mr. S. S. Smith, of Nottmgham. 
Gentlemen, 
Should you think the following account of the manner the 
Common House Spiders attack and destroy their prey, worthy of a 
place in your Horticultural Register, it is at your service, and should 
you approve of it, I have several others from personal observations, 
which I will forward to you from time to time. 
I am. Gentlemen, 
Yours, respectfully, 
iVo«mg-Aam, Oc<. 30, 1831. S. S. Smith. 
Perhaps none of yom- readers, or very few of them, have noticed the 
way the Common House Spider, fAranea domestica,) attack and 
destroy their prey; — I, myself, never did till the summer ot 1830: 
since that time I have noticed them, and other insects, pretty minutely. 
The first that I saw, to notice, was in a lumber-room, where a Wasp 
( Vespa Vulgaris, J was entangled in a web, and the Spider, being a 
small ane, dared not mieddle with it, and it soon struggled until it re- 
gained its liberty : it had not proceeded far, hoAvever, before it fell 
into another snare, the proprietor of which, like the last, was too 
small to venture an attack. I then began to interest myself in the 
destruction of the Wasp ; I therefore put it in a web which was in- 
habited by a much larger and stronger Spider than either of the former. 
As soon as the web began to move, the Spider darted from his hole, 
but seeing what a formidable captive was ensnared, he slackened his 
pace, and appeared to move with caution. This the Wasp observed, 
and struggled violently to free himself, which he quickly did, and on 
regaining his liberty, he appeared to be in a "great rage. I now be- 
gan to despair of seeing a battle, but in a little time it became more 
strongly entangled than ever; the Spider moved very cautiously to- 
wards it, and I observed it moved three times round it, binding it with 
a cord each time, and then left it to struggle. The Wasp soon broke 
these cords, and would have regained its liberty, which, being ob- 
