“Whatever contrivances human sagacity might suggest, they could hardly excel those which these despised engineers sometimes adopt. Having formed a web, under circumstances similar to those to which we have referred, a spider has been known to descend from it to the ground by means of a thread spun for the purpose, and after selecting a minute pebble, or piece of stone, has coiled the end of the thread round it. Having done this, the ingenious artist ascended, and fixing himself on the lower part of the web, hoisted up the pebble until it swung several inches clear of the ground. The cord to which the weight was suspended was then secured by additional ones, running from it to different parts of the web, which thus acquired the requisite tension, and was allowed, at the same time, to yield to sudden puffs of wind without danger of being rent asunder. “A similar instance came under my notice a few days ago. A large spider had constructed his web, in nearly a vertical position, about six feet from the ground, in a corner of my yard. The upper edge was formed by a strong thread, secured at one end to a vine leaf, and the other to a clothes line. One part of the lower edge was attached to a Penyan sun-flower, and another to a trellis fence, four or five feet distant. Between these there was no object nearer than the ground, to which an additional brace line could be carried; but two threads, a foot asunder, descended from this part of the web, and, eight or ten inches below it, were united at a point. From this point, a single line, four or five inches long, was suspended, and to its lower extremity was the weight, a _living one_, viz. a worm, _three inches long_, and _one-eighth of an inch thick_. The cord was fastened around the middle of the victim’s body, and as no object was within reach, all its writhings and efforts to escape were fruitless. Its weight answered the same purpose as a piece of inanimate matter, while its sufferings seemed not in the least to disturb the unconcerned murderer, who lay waiting for his prey above. “Whether the owner of the web found it a more easy task to capture this unlucky worm and raise it, than to elevate a stone of the same weight, may be a question(?). Perhaps in seeking for the latter, the former fell in his way, and was seized as the first suitable object that came to hand--like the human tyrant, (Domitian) who, to show his skill in archery, planted his arrows in the heads of men or cattle, in the absence of other targets. It may be, however, that a piece of stone, earth, or wood, of a suitable weight, was not in the vicinity of the web.