THE GARDEN SPIDER. 
266 
of the supporters, or the approach of some large animal, 
destroys in a minute the labours of an age. In this case the 
spider is obliged to remain a patient spectator of the univer- 
sal ruin ; and when the danger is passed away, it sets about 
repairing the calamity. In general, the animal is much fond- 
er of mending than making, as it is furnished originally with 
but a certain quantity of glutinous matter, which, when ex- 
hausted, nothing can renew. The time seldom fails to come, 
when their reservoirs are entirely dried up, and the poor ani- 
mal is left to all the chances of irretrievable necessity. An 
old spider is thus frequently reduced to the greatest extremi- 
ty ; its web is destroyed, and it wants the materials to make 
a new one. But as it has been long accustomed to a life of 
shifting, it hunts about to find out the web of another spi- 
der, younger and weaker than itself, with whom it ventures 
a battle. The invader generally succeeds ; the young one 
is driven out to make a new web, and the old one remains 
in quiet possession. If, however, the spider is unable to 
dispossess any other of its web, it then endeavours, for a 
while, to subsist upon accidental depredation ; but in two 
or three months it inevitably dies ol hunger. 
The garden-spider seems to work in a different manner. 
The method with this insect is to spin a great quantity of 
thread, which floating in the air in various directions, hap- 
pens, from its glutinous quality, at last to stick to some ob- 
ject near it, a lofty plant or the branch of a tree. The spider 
only wants to have one end of the line fast in order to se- 
cure and tighten the other. It accordingly dra/vs the line 
when thus fixed, anti then by passing and repassing upon it, 
strengthens the thread in such a manner as to answer all its 
intentions. The first cord being thus stretched, the spider 
walks along a part of it, and there fastens another, and drop- 
ping thence, fastens the thread to some solid body below, 
then climbs tip again and begins a third, which it fastens by 
the same contrivance. When three threads are thus fixed, 
it forms a square, or something that very nearly resembles 
one; and in this the animal is generally seen to reside. It 
often happens, however,' when the young spider begins spin- 
ning, that its web becomes too buoyant, and not only the 
thread floats in the air, but even the little spinster. In this 
manner we have often seen the threads of spiders floating in 
the air ; and, what is still more surprising, the young spi- 
ders themselves attached to their own web. 
The spider’s web being completed, and fixed in a. proper 
place, its next care is to seize and secure whatever insect 
Happens to be caught in the toil. For this purpose, it 
V ol II. 2 i. 
