in the centre with their head downwards, and retire to a little apartment formed on one side under some leaf of a plant, only when obliged by danger or the state of the weather, or as before stated, constantly hide themselves in a similar retreat. The moment an unfortunate fly or other insect touches the net, the spider rushes towards it, seizes it with her fangs, and if it be a small species at once carries it to her little cell, and, having there at leisure sucked its juices, throws out the carcass. If the insect be larger, and struggle to escape, with surprising address she envelopes it with threads in various directions, until both its wings and legs being effectually fastened, she carries it off to her den. If the captured insect be a bee or a large fly so strong that the spider is sensible that it is more than a match for her, she never attempts to seize or even entangle it, but on the contrary assists it to disengage itself, and often breaks off that part of the net to which it hangs, content to be rid of such an unmanageable intruder at any price. When larger booty is plentiful, these spiders seem not to regard smaller insects. I have observed them in autumn, when their nets were almost covered with the Aphides which filled the air, impatiently pulling them off and dropping them untouched over the sides, as though irritated that their meshes should be occupied with such insignificant game. A species of spider described by Lister (Epeira conica), more provident than its brethren, suspends its prey in the meshes above and below the centre, and it is not uncommon to see its larder thus stored with several flies.1

You must not infer that the toils of spiders are in every part of the world formed of such fragile materials as those which we are accustomed to see, or that they are everywhere contented with small insects for their food. An author in the Philosophical Transactions asserts, that the spiders of Bermudas spin webs between trees seven and eight fathoms distant, which are strong enough to ensnare a bird as large as a thrush. And Sir G. Staunton informs us, that in the forests of Java, spiders' webs are met with of so strong a texture as to require a sharp cutting instrument to make way through them.3 The nets of a large geometric spider, Nephila (Epeira) clavipes, are sufficiently strong to arrest and entangle the smaller species of humming-birds; but Mr. W. S. MacLeay, in whose garden at Cuba these nets abounded, never saw or heard of any birds being caught in them. On the other hand, however, he observed in the grounds of Elizabeth Bay, near Sydney (Australia), in the beginning of 1840, a young bird (Zosterops dorsalis), which had been apparently dead some days, suspended in the geometrical net of an enormous undescribed spider of the same family (Epeiridae), which was in the act of sucking its juices; and his father, Alexander MacLeay, Esq., informed him that he had also been witness to a similar occurrence; but he considers these facts as exceptions to the general rule of this spider's insectivorous habits and to be of rare occurrence, since, as far as he could learn, no other persons had observed them.5

Nor must you suppose that all the spiders of this country which catch their prey by means of snares follow the same plan in constructing them as the weavers and geometricians whose operations I have endeavoured to describe. The form of their snares and the situation in which they place 2 Phil. Tr. 1668, p. 792.

1 Lister, Hist. Anim. Ang. 32, tit. 4.

3 Embassy to China, i. 343.

4 Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond. i. 193.

5 Ann. Nat. Hist. viii. 324.

them are so various, that it is impossible to enumerate more than a few of the most remarkable. Agelene labyrinthica extends over the blades of grass a large white horizontal net, having at its margin a cylindrical cell, in the bottom of which, secure from birds and defended from the rays of the sun, the spider lies concealed, whence, on the slightest movement of her net, she rushes out upon her prey. Aranea latens F. conceals itself under a small net spun upon the upper surface of a leaf, and thence seizes upon any insect that chances to pass over it. Theridium 13-guttatum forms under stones and in slight furrows in the ground a net consisting of threads spun without any regularity in all directions, but so strong as to entrap grasshoppers, which are said to be its principal food; and a similar inartificial snare of simple threads is often spun in windows by Theridium bipunctatum and several other species. Segestria senoculata and its affinities conceal themselves in a long cylindrical straight silken tube, from the mouth of which they stretch out their six anterior feet, whose extremities rest upon as many diverging threads: thus, as soon as an insect walks across any of the threads (which are eight or ten inches long) the insect's toes give it warning of prey being at hand, when it rushes out and seldom fails to secure its victim.

"The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!

Feels at each thread, and lives along the line."

M. Homberg tells us that he has seen a vigorous wasp carried off and destroyed by one of these species.

The spiders to which I have hitherto adverted seize their prey by means of webs or nets; but a very large number, though, like the former, they spin silken cocoons for containing their eggs, and often line their cells and places of retreat with silk, never employ the same material in constructing similar snares, of which they make no use.

These may be separated into two grand divisions: the first comprising those which conceal themselves and lie in ambuscade for their prey, and sometimes run after it a short distance; the second, those which are constantly roaming about in every direction in search of it, and seize it by open violence. The former Walckenaer, in his admirable work on spiders, has designated by the name of Vagrants, the latter by that of Hunters; terming those already mentioned which spin webs and nets, Sedentaries: if to these you add the Swimmers, or those species which catch their prey in the water, you will have an idea of the general manners of the whole race of spiders.1

The artifices of that tribe which Walckenaer has named vagrants are various and singular. Several species conceal themselves in a little cell formed of the rolled up leaf of a plant, and thence dart upon any insect which chances to pass; while others select for their place of ambush a hole in a wall, or lurk behind a stone, or in the bark of a tree. Aranea calycina L. more ingeniously places herself at the bottom of the calyx of a dead flower, and pounces upon the unwary flies that come in search of honey; and A. arundinacea buries herself in the thick panicle of a reed, and seizes the luckless visitors enticed to rest upon her silvery concealment. Many

1 Some slight alterations in M. Walckenaer's original divisions, but which need not be here particularised, have been made in his later works on spiders

of this tribe at times quit their habitations, and by various stratagems contrive to come within reach of their prey, as by pretending to be dead, hiding, themselves behind any slight projection, &c. A white species I have often observed squatted in the blossom of the hawthorn or on the flowers of umbelliferous plants, and is thus effectually concealed by the similarity of colour.

Foremost amongst the spiders comprehended by Walckenaer under the general name of hunters, which search after and openly seize their prey, must be enumerated the monstrous Mygale avicularia, at least two inches long, and the expansion of whose feet has been sometimes found to extend nearly a foot wide, which takes up its abode in the woods of South America, and has been reputed by Madame Merian to seize and devour even small birds; but this is wholly denied by Langsdorf, who declares that it eats only insects1; a conclusion which is confirmed by Mr. W. S. MacLeay from his own observations on this species, which was very common in his garden in Cuba, and did him great service by devouring the Juli, Achete, cockroaches, &c., which are so injurious there to cultivated vegetables. It issues from its hole at night only (never in the day time) to attack these insects; and so far from having any bird-catching propensities, Mr. MacLeay having placed a living humming-bird in the tube of a Mygale, it deserted it, leaving the bird untouched. It is, however, very possible that other species may attack birds, as is asserted of Mygale Blondi by Palisot de Beauvais, of M. fasciata by Percival in his Account of Ceylon, and of a species common in Martinique by M. Moreau de Jonnès. Mygale avicularia, as well as other tropical species, the European Cteniza cementaria, and many others, construct in the ground very singular cylindrical cavities, and therein carry and devour their prey. These, being rather the habitations of insects than snares, I shall describe in a subsequent letter. Lycosa saccata, the species whose affection for its young I have before detailed, and not a few others of the same family, common in this country, in like manner seize their prey openly, and when caught carry it to little inartificial cavities under stones. Dolomedes fimbriatus hunts along the margins of pools; and Lycosa piratica and its congeners not only chase their prey in the same situation, but, venturing to skate upon the surface of the water itself,

bathe unwet their oily forms, and dwell With feet repulsive on the dimpling well."

The Rev. R. Sheppard has often noticed, in the fen ditches of Norfolk, a very large spider, which actually forms a raft for the purpose of obtaining its prey with more facility. Keeping its station upon a ball of weeds about three inches in diameter, probably held together by slight silken cords, it is wafted along the surface of the water upon this floating island, which it quits the moment it sees a drowning insect,-not, as you may conceive, for the sake of applying to it the process of the Humane Society, but of

1 Bermerkungen auf einer Reise um die Welt, i. 63.

2 Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond. i. 191.

3 Shuckhard in Ann. of Nat. Hist. viii. 436.

4 According to M. Walckenaer this spider (Aranea fimbriata L.), A. marginata and A. paludosa De Geer; as well as Dolomedes limbatus Hahn, and D. marginatus of his Faune Française, are mere varieties of the same species. (Ann. Soc. Ent. de France, ii. 424.

hastening its exit by a more speedy engine of destruction. The booty thus seized it devours at leisure upon its raft, under which it retires when alarmed by any danger.

The last of the tribe of hunters that it is necessary to particularise are those which, like the tigers amongst the larger animals, seize their victims by leaping upon them. To this division belongs a very pretty small banded species, Salticus scenicus, which in summer may be seen running on every wall.

To Walckenaer's swimmers, the last of his grand tribes of spiders, including the single genus and species, Argyroneta aquatica, the first line of the above quotation from Dr. Darwin is particularly applicable; for these actually seize their food by diving under the water, their bodies being kept unwet by a coating of air which constantly surrounds them. Thus one single race of insects exemplify in miniature almost all the modes of obtaining food which prevail amongst predaceous quadrupeds-the audacious attack of the lion, the wily spring of the tiger, the sedentary cunning of the lynx, and the amphibious dexterity of the otter.

This general view of the stratagems by which the spider tribe obtain their food, imperfect as it is, will, I trust, have interested you sufficiently to drive away the associations of disgust with which you, like almost every one, have probably been accustomed to regard these insects. Instead of considering them as repulsive compounds of cruelty and ferocity, you will henceforward see in their procedures only the ingenious contrivances of patient and industrious hunters, who, while obeying the great law of nature in procuring their sustenance, are actively serviceable to the human race in destroying noxious insects. You will allow the poet to stigmatise them

as

". . . . cunning and fierce,
Mixture abhorred!"

but you will see that these epithets are in reality as unjustly applied to them (at least with reference to the mode in which they procure their necessary subsistence) as to the patient sportsman who lays snares for the birds that are to serve for the dinner of his family; and when you hear

... the fluttering wing

And shriller sound declare extreme distress,"

you will as little think it the part of true mercy to stretch forth "the helping hospitable hand" to the entrapped fly as to the captive birds. The spider requires his meal as well as the Indian; and, however, to our weak capacity, the great law of creation "eat or be eaten" may seem cruel or unnecessary, knowing as we do that it is the ordinance of a beneficent Being, who does all things well, and that in fact the sum of happiness is greatly augmented by it, no man, who does not let a morbid sensibility get the better of his judgment, will on account of their subjection to this rule, look upon predaceous animals with abhorrence.

One more instance of the stratagems of insects in procuring their prey shall conclude this letter. Other examples might be adduced, but the enumeration would be tedious. This, from an order of insects widely differing from that which includes the race of spiders, is perhaps more curious and interesting than any of those hitherto recited. The insect to

R

which I allude, an inhabitant of the south of Europe, is the larva of a species of ant-lion (Myrmeleon), so called from its singular manners in this state. It belongs to a genus between the dragon-fly and the Hemerobius. When full grown its length is about half an inch in shape it has a slight resemblance to a wood-louse, but the outline of the body is more triangular, the anterior part being considerably wider than the posterior: it has six legs, and the mouth is furnished with a forceps consisting of two incurved jaws, which give it a formidable appearance. If we looked only at its external conformation and habits, we should be apt to conclude it one of the most helpless animals in the creation. Its sole food is the juices of other insects, particularly ants; but at the first view it seems impossible that it should ever secure a single meal. Not only is its pace slow, but it can walk in no other direction than backwards; you may judge, therefore, what would be such a hunter's chance of seizing an active ant. Nor would a stationary posture be more favourable; for its grim aspect would infallibly impress upon all wanderers the prudence of keeping at a respectful distance. What then is to become of our poor ant-lion? In its appetite it is a perfect epicure, never, however great may be its hunger, deigning to taste of a carcass unless it has previously had the enjoyment of killing it; and then extracting only the finer juices. In what possible way can it contrive to supply such a succession of delicacies, when its ordinary habits seem to unfit it for obtaining even the coarsest provision? You shall hear. It accomplishes by artifice what all its open efforts would have been unequal to. It digs in loose sand a conical pit, in the bottom of which it conceals itself, and there seizes upon the insects which, chancing to stumble over the margin, are precipitated down the sides to the centre. "How wonderful!" you exclaim: but you will be still more surprised when I have described the whole process by which it excavates its trap, and the ingenious contrivances to which it has recourse.

Its first concern is to find a soil of loose dry sand, in the neighbourhood of which, indeed, its provident mother has previously taken care to place it, and in a sheltered spot near an old wall, or at the foot of a tree. This is necessary on two accounts: the prey most acceptable to it abounds there, and no other soil would suit for the construction of its snare. Its next step is to trace in the sand a circle, which, like the furrow with which Romulus marked out the limits of his new city, is to determine the extent of its future abode. This being done, it proceeds to excavate the cavity by throwing out the sand in a mode not less singular than effective. Placing itself in the inside of the circle which it has traced, it thrusts the hind part of its body under the sand, and with one of its fore-legs, serving as a shovel, it charges its flat and square head with a load, which it immediately throws over the outside of the circle with a jerk strong enough to carry it to the distance of several inches. This little manoeuvre is executed with surprising promptitude and address. A gardener does not operate so quickly or so well with his spade and his foot, as the ant-lion with its head and leg. Walking backwards, and constantly repeating the process, it soon arrives at the part of the circle from which it set out. It then traces a new one, excavates another furrow in a similar manner, and, by a repetition of these operations, at length arrives at the centre of its cavity. One circumstance deserves remark, that it never loads its head with the sand lying on the outside of the circle, though it would be as easy to do this with the outward leg, as to remove the sand within the circle by the