ARANEA^ OR SPIDER. 365 
spiders with round blueish bags fastened 
to them, and these I have been told were 
bags of eggs. 
Mother. Several species of spiders 
weave a bag to contain their eggs, and 
carry it till they are hatched. No ani- 
mals show greater attachment to their 
progeny; they would rather lose their 
lives than these precious bags, and often 
fall a sacrifice to the obstinacy with 
which they defend them from more 
powerful insects, and even from birds. 
Lucy, How very strong the threads 
of those webs must be which catch large 
flies ! Could not something be made of 
them ? 
Mother. The experiment has been 
tried in France, and a pair of stockings 
was actually made of the e^g bags ; the 
colour was a glossy grey, and in strength 
they were but little inferior to common 
silk. 
Lucy. What prevented their making 
more than one pair ? I am sure there 
