NATURAL HISTORY. 197 
and grey fpeckled. Dr. Hook gives the following 
diverting account of this fpider, as deferibed by Mr. 
Ievelyn im his travels through Italy. 
« Of all forts of infects,’ fays he, ‘ there is none 



has afforded me imore diverfion than the fiuall grey 
ee prettily befpeckled with black {pots 
all over 1 
wer the body, which the microfcope difcovers to 
be a kind of feathers, like thofe on butterflies wings, 
or the body of the white moth. It is very nimble 
by fits, fometimes renning, and fometimes leaping 
hkaweabhaprers ; then ftanding itil], and fetting itfelz 
on its hinder legs, will very nimbly turn its body, 
and look round itfelf every way. Such,” fays Mr. 
Evelyn, ‘1 did frequently obferve at Rome, which, 
efpying a fly at three or four yards diftance, upon the 
balcony where I ftood, would not make directly to 
her, but crawl under the rail, till, being arrived right 
under her, it would fteal up, feldom mifling its aim 3. 
but, if it chanced to want any thing of being per- 
fectly oppofite, would, at the firft peep, tmmediately 
fiide down again; till, taking better notice, it would 
come, the next time, exactly upon the fly’s back ; 
but, if this happened not to be within a competent 
leap, then would this infect move fo foftly, as the 
very fhadow of the dial feemed nat to be more im- 
percepible, unlefs the fly moved; and then would 
the fpider move alfo in the fame proportion, keeping 
that juft time with her motion, as if the fame foul had | 
‘animated both thofe little bodies; and, whether it | 
were forwards, backwards, or to-eithér fide, without 
at all turning her body, like a well managed horfe : 
But if the capricious fy took wing, and pitched upon 
another place, behind our huntrefs, then would the 
fpider whirl its body fo nimbly about, as nothing 
could be imagined more {wift ; aM which means, fhe 
always kept the head towards her prey, though, to 
appearance, as immovable as if it had been a nail 
driven into the wood, till, by that indifcernible prog- 
refs, being arrived within the {phere of her reach, the 
made a fatal leap, fwift as lightning, upon the fly, 
catching him in the pole, where fhe never quitted 
hold until her belly was full, and then carried the re- 
mainder home. 1 haye beheld them inftruécting their | 
R 
