206 
NATURE NOTES. 
A COUPLE OF SPIDERS. 
VERY year there come to my garden one or two spiders 
with backs striped yellow and black like zebras ; they 
make large geometrical webs and squat in the middle 
of them. Their body is somewhat larger than my 
thumb-nail, and, of course, they have the regulation number of 
legs and so forth. Often when passing through underwoods I 
have intensely resented having my face inscribed like an ellipse 
in one of these circular webs with my nose accurately pointing 
out the common centre where the owner of the circle pre- 
sided in prior possession. I used once to think that I ran 
considerable risk in these encounters ; the glare of the keen 
little eyes looked dangerous, and the formidable jaws promised 
poison. Moreover, I had seen them in Italy so large that they 
thought nothing of spinning up a locust or even a mantis four 
inches in length, so I was afraid they might look upon my nose 
merely as a ordinary meal, at any rate as far as the first bite was 
concerned. Never was there a greater mistake. I suppose they 
can see out of those bright eyes of theirs, but I never could get 
any proof of the fact ; they contemplate the outer world with the 
unruffled demeanour of a philosopher, and nothing I could do 
before their eyes ever disturbed their serenity. They seem to 
judge of all things in heaven and earth by the feel of their web, 
and the nose of a human mortal is generally advanced with a 
force too great for negotiation. When they are not in the centre 
of their web, I have held flies under their very noses in vain. 
Flies may walk between their legs and under their jaws with 
perfect security ; without a web they do not attack anything, 
and in their web they follow the rule of hitting people of their 
own size or under. Hence, beyond the unpleasantness of the 
feel of a spider’s web, nothing need be apprehended from walk- 
ing into the spider’s parlour. 
I found the ways of m3' eight-legged friends so entertaining 
in the garden that I determined to bring them under closer 
obser\-ation in my own room. I provided myself with a milli- 
ner’s box having a glass top, bored air-holes in the side, and 
imprisoned my first captive, much to her disgust. She sulked at 
first for a day or two, evidentl)' not expecting ever to find food 
in so forsaken a hole ; but when my captive flies began to buzz 
against her in their attempts to escape, she determined to make 
the best of a bad job. It was a very irregular circle she in- 
scribed in the parallelogram, but, like Mercutio’s wound, it 
served. Studying the habits of the flies, I discovered where the 
bluebottles slept at night, and thenceforward my spider lived in 
bloated prosperity. I am bound to say, however, that her 
experience of plenty did not convince her of my wisdom in 
selecting a site for a web, for one day I inadvertently left the 
box open and she at once abandoned the house of bondage and 
plenty, leaving me an uneasy sense of possibl}' finding her under 
