16 SPIDERS [CH. 







operation is simple enough. The spider attaches a 

 line at the point of departure and crawls along, 

 spinning as it goes and holding up the newly-spun 

 thread by the claws of one of its hind feet, till it 

 reaches a suitable spot for its farthest limit. It then 

 hauls in the slack and makes it fast. It will probably 

 return along the line thus laid down still spinning- 

 to the starting point, thus doubling the strength of 

 the cable, and indeed a large spider will often 

 repeat this operation several times. Now the upper 

 boundary of the future web is secured. It is next 

 necessary to find points of attachment for the lower 

 boundary, and the spider either drops or climbs 

 down always carrying a line from one of the ends 

 of the upper line till it reaches a spot suitable for its 

 purpose, and the previous performance is repeated. 

 If there is any difficulty about a fourth attachment it 

 is always open to the spider to climb back along the 

 two lines already laid down, and by carrying a loose 

 line with it, to secure at all events a triangular 

 frame- work. This frame- work, whether trapezoid or 

 triangular, will be re-inforced several times and made 

 thoroughly trustworthy before the work of making 

 the actual snare is proceeded with. 



Now the foregoing operation is obviously perfectly 

 simple in certain cases, as, for instance when a spider 

 has chosen lattice work, or the mouth of an empty 

 barrel as its "pitch," but snares may easily be found 



