[Illustration: TRAPS AND SNARES.] The nest of the spider is made of close, fine silk. It is like soft, nice cloth. In shape it is like a ball, or a horn, or a basket. Each kind of spider makes its web in the shape it likes best. In the nest the spider lays her eggs in a silk ball. The eggs, at first, are very soft. After a time they grow harder. More than two spiders never live in a nest. Often a spider lives all alone. Spiders are often apt to bite off each other’s legs. A spider can live and run when half its legs are gone. But it can get a fine new leg as a crab can. When the baby spiders come out of the egg, they must be fed. The mother takes good care of them. They grow fast. When they are grown, they go off and make their own webs. Sometimes the eggs are left in the silk ball all winter. The baby spiders come out in the spring. Then the old ones are dead. But the young ones know how to hunt and to spin. The very young spiders do not have so rich a dress as the old ones. The hairs of their coat are not so thick at first. The soft, silk-like coat, with its rich color, is the only beauty a spider has. People do not like his long legs and his round, soft, bag-like body. Still, some people who watch spiders learn to like them very well. LESSON XXX. THE SPIDER AND HIS FOOD. Some people say that they hate spiders. Why do they hate them? “Oh,” they say, “they are so very greedy!” Well, a spider must eat a great deal, or he cannot spin his web. His food makes the glue that makes the web. Spiders work hard. So they must eat much. “But they bite.” They will not bite you if you do not hurt them. If they do, the bite will do you no harm. They bite insects to kill them. [Illustration: HIS DIVING-BELL.] Do you not eat fish, meat, and birds? Who kills this food for you? “But the spider is not pretty.” True, his shape is not pretty, nor are his long hairy legs pretty. Just see his fine black or gold coat! If he is not pretty, he is wise and busy. Webs are very pretty, if spiders are not. Spiders eat flies and all kinds of small bugs. When a fly is fast in a web, he hums loud from fear. The spider will eat dead birds. One kind of spider kills small birds to eat. There is a spider that lives on water. He knows how to build a raft. He takes grass and bits of stick and ties them up with his silk. On this raft he sails out to catch flies and bugs that skim over the water. There is a spider that lives in the water. She can dive. Her nest is like a ball. It shines like silver. Her web is so thick that it does not get wet. Her velvet coat keeps her as dry as a fur coat. Her eggs are of the color of gold. When spiders eat, they do not chew their food: they suck out the juice. Spiders are very neat. They hate dust and soot. They will not have a dirty web. If you put a bit of dirt or leaf on the web, Mrs. Spider will go and clean it off.