. Annual report - Entomological Society of Ontario. Entomological Society of Ontario; Insect pests; Insects. Fig. 16. sidles along quietly in the direction of its intended victim, keeping a most careful watch, and ever drawing nearer to its prey. As the fly moves, so moves the spider, until the two appear to be animated by one common will. Slowly, but surely, it makes its way towards the unsuspecting fly, and then with a leap so quick that the eye can scarcely follow the movement, it springs upon its prey, rolls perhaps over and over, and in a few moments emerges victorious from the contest, i
. Annual report - Entomological Society of Ontario. Entomological Society of Ontario; Insect pests; Insects. Fig. 16. sidles along quietly in the direction of its intended victim, keeping a most careful watch, and ever drawing nearer to its prey. As the fly moves, so moves the spider, until the two appear to be animated by one common will. Slowly, but surely, it makes its way towards the unsuspecting fly, and then with a leap so quick that the eye can scarcely follow the movement, it springs upon its prey, rolls perhaps over and over, and in a few moments emerges victorious from the contest, its victim dead or dying in its Even on a perpendicular wall the spider will make these leaps. It is sure not to fall to the ground as it al- ways draws a silken cord behind it as it moves, and so, whenever it leaps upon its prey, it is able to mount up again to its former post. The family Tho?nisidce, or Crab- spiders, are like the preceding, depen- dent for their subsistence upon their bodily powers and activity. The body is usually flat, and wide behind. The front two pair of legs are longer than the others, and so 0 bent that the spider can use them when in a narrow crack, o ° ° o Some of them, like crabs, walk better sideways than for- Yig. 17. wards. Like the running and jumping spiders, they make no webs for catching food. Fig. 17 represents a species of Thomisus, showing at the bottom of the cut the arrangement in two rows of the eight small eyes. As in many other families of spiders, the males are very much smaller than the females. The next family, Theridiidce, contains the largest number of species, but the spiders comprising it are usually small, with large rounded abdomens and slender legs. They us- ually live upside down, holding on by their feet to the underside of their webs, as in fig. 18, which represents the common house Theri- '~^^/s=i/==T'l " ? [ u— || ~: dion, much enlarged. They make large cobwebs of different shapes for different species,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1872
