IN FEATHERS AND FUR. 
179 
you know that Arachnida — as well as you — must have air to 
breathe, and one would think they must live on land; but this Spi- 
der is so determined to live away from her relatives, that she builds 
a beautiful house of silk, the shape and size of a thimble, with the 
open side down, and actually fills it with air herself. I'll tell you 
how. Having finished the house, she goes to the surface, sticks 
one end of her body up into the air, then gives a jerk, and actually 
carries a tiny bubble of air under the water. It is held partly by 
the long hairs on the body, and partly by the hind legs. When she 
gets to the house, she turns around, and lets go the bubble. Of 
course it goes to the top of the little thimble, and there it stays. 
You can see her in the picture at the head of this article. 
In this wonderful way, bubble by bubble, air enough is carried 
in to fill the house. And there she lives, bringing her dinner there 
to eat, and making a nursery in one corner for the babies, who live 
at home till big enough to build thimble-castles for themselves. 
I must tell you a little about the giant of our family, though he is 
a foreigner, and I never have seen him. He is called the Great 
• Crab Spider, and he is two and a half or three inches long, and his 
