194 
The Naturalist in La Ptata. 
tlieir falces, and never once actually touched each 
other, but the fight was none the less deadly. 
Rapidly revolving about, or leaping over, or passing 
under, each other, each endeavoured to impede or 
entangle his adversary, and the dexterity with 
which each avoided the cunningly thrown snare, 
trying at the same time to entangle its opponent, 
was wonderful to see. At length, after this equal 
battle had raged for some time, one of the com- 
batants made some fatal mistake, and for a moment 
there occurred a break in his motions ; instantly 
the other perceived his advantage, and began leap- 
ing backwards and forwards across his struggling 
adversary with such rapidity as to confuse the sight, 
producing the appearance of two spiders attacking 
a third one lying between them. He then changed 
his tactics, and began revolving round and round 
his prisoner, and very soon the poor vanquished 
wretch — the aggressor, let us hope, in the interests 
of justice — was closely wrapped in a silvery cocoon, 
which, unlike the cocoon the caterpillar weaves for 
itself, was also its winding-sheet. 
In the foregoing pages I have thrown together 
some of the most salient facts I have noted ; but 
the spider- world still remains to me a wonderland 
of which I know comparatively nothing. Nor is 
any very intimate knowledge of spiders to be got 
from books, though numberless lists of new species 
are constantly being printed ; for they have not yet 
had, like the social bees and ants, many loving and 
patient chroniclers of their ways. The Hubers and 
