The Life of the Spider 



together represent the original snaring- 

 surface. All that the Spider, seated in a 

 central position, need do is to find the requisite 

 support for her spread legs. The two threads 

 stretched from side to side of the cleft supply 

 her with this, or nearly. My mischief did 

 not go far enough. Let us devise something 

 better. 



Next day, the web is renewed, after the old 

 one has been swallowed. When the work is 

 done and the Epeira seated motionless at her 

 central post, I take a straw and, wielding it 

 dexterously, so as to respect the resting-floor 

 and the spokes, I pull and root up the spiral, 

 which dangles in tatters. With its snaring- 

 threads ruined, the net is useless; no passing 

 Moth would allow herself to be caught. 

 Now what does the Epeira do in the face of 

 this disaster? Nothing at all. Motionless on 

 her resting-floor, which I have left intact, she 

 awaits the capture of the game; she awaits it 

 all night in vain on her impotent web. In the 

 morning, I find the snare as I left it. Neces- 

 sity, the mother of invention, has not 

 prompted the Spider to make a slight repair 

 in her ruined toils. 



Possibly this is asking too much of her 



264 



