CHAPTER I 



A SURVEY OF THE FIELD 



THERE are certain days of the year when the 

 immense wealth of spider industry going on all 

 around us is revealed in a way calculated to strike 

 even the least observant. We all know and derive 

 no peculiarly pleasant thrill from the knowledge- 

 that we can, if so minded, find abundance of cobwebs 

 and their occupants by visiting the cellar or the tool- 

 house ; and probably we have all at times noticed, 

 with a languid interest, large circular webs on our 

 favourite rose-bushes, with a spider motionless in the 

 centre. 



But some spring or autumn morning, when the 

 night has been foggy and the sun has only just 

 succeeded in dispersing the mists, every bush and 

 hedge is seen to be draped, every square foot of lawn 

 and meadow to be carpeted with spiders' silk. There 

 has been no special activity in the domain of these 

 creatures, but every silken line is beaded with drops 

 perhaps fifty times its diameter, and what yesterday 



W. 8. 1 



