PREFATORY NOTE 
HIS little book does not pretend 
to be a scientific work in the 
strictest sense. It claims to be a simple, 
accurate account of the habits and char- 
acteristics of many of our common spi- 
ders. With a few exceptions, — chiefly 
the habits of the trapdoor, turret, and 
water spiders, — the book has been pre- 
pared from notes gathered from my own 
observation and study during a period 
of several years. 
All of Nature’s children are interest- 
ing, whether rock or stream, herb or 
tree, bird or insect or other animal, and 
the spiders are by no means the least 
interesting among them all. Nowhere 
will the student and lover of nature find 
a more profitable study or a keener joy 
than in delving into the secrets of the 
spinners, or watching them solve the 
Vv 

