All through their lives spiders seem to be gifted in a high degree with the power of extracting the utmost value, in substance and in energy, from their food. Consider the great Theraphosid spiders—the so called bird-eaters. They have a massive body, and great muscular power to sustain; yet they are never heavy feeders and can go for many months without any food at all. And it is not as though they were dormant during this period of abstention; their vital processes seem to be going on as usual the whole time, and they are ready at any moment to resent attack, or to employ their spinning organs during their long fast. True hibernation, as we have seen, does not occur in this group; if it did, there would be nothing remarkable in the occasional long abstention from food. The vitality of a hibernating animal is practically at a standstill; all its vital operations—breathing, blood-circulation, muscular action—are reduced to the lowest possible limit, and it very likely expends no more energy during its winter sleep than it would during a day or two of active summer life. But of such reflexions there is no end, and many such will doubtless arise spontaneously in the mind of the thoughtful reader, and it is for that very reason that the study of the life-history of any animal is of such absorbing interest. It is not contended that spiders are any more wonderful than any other group that might have been selected. There is, of course, a special interest attaching to the study of animals very much nearer to man in bodily structure and mental equipment, but the endeavour to understand the actions and appreciate the outlook on nature of creatures far remote from man, however unsuccessful, has its own fascination. And this is what the mere collector entirely misses. Collecting is of course necessary, for a complete examination is never possible in the living specimen, and moreover without examples kept as types for reference we should lose our way in the multitude of living forms. But as an end in itself it is of vastly inferior value. The writer will be well content if he has succeeded in arousing the curiosity of some with regard to the humble life that surrounds us, and in stimulating a few who possess the requisite keenness and patience to add to our store of knowledge by new observations of their own. LITERATURE Most of the large publications on the Arachnid fauna of different countries give some preliminary account of the habits of spiders, but the only considerable work entirely devoted to that subject is McCook’s _American Spiders and their Spinning-work_ (Philadelphia, 1893). A small but interesting book on _The Structure and Habits of Spiders_ was published ten years previously by Emerton (Boston, 1883). But the reader who wishes to pursue further the study of some point to which his attention has been called in the foregoing pages may desire to be referred, for fuller details, to the original papers.