The Life of the Spider 



calm and warm, favourable to the rounds of 

 the Moths. All promises good hunting. At 

 the moment when, after completing the great 

 spiral, the Epeira is about to eat the central 

 cushion and settle down upon her resting- 

 floor, I cut the web in two, diagonally, with 

 a pair of sharp scissors. The sagging of the 

 spokes, deprived of their counter-agents, pro- 

 duces an empty space, wide enough for three 

 fingers to pass through. 



The Spider retreats to her cable and looks 

 on, without being greatly frightened. When 

 I have done, she quietly returns. She takes 

 her stand on one of the halves, at the spot 

 which was the centre of the original orb; but, 

 as her legs find no footing on one side, she 

 soon realizes that the snare is defective. 

 Thereupon, two threads are stretched across 

 the breach, two threads, no more; the legs 

 that lacked a foothold spread across them; 

 and henceforth the Epeira moves no more, 

 devoting her attention to the incidents of the 

 chase. 



When I saw those two threads laid, joining 

 the edges of the rent, I began to hope that I 

 was to witness a mending-process : 



'The Spider,' said I to myself, 'will increase 



262 



