The Life of the Spider 



outspread, ready to mark the least quiver in 

 the net. It is here, again, that she takes her 

 meals, often long-drawn-out, when the joint 

 is a substantial one; it is hither that, after 

 trussing and nibbling it, she drags her prey at 

 the end of a thread, to consume it at her ease 

 on a non-viscous mat. As a hunting-post and 

 refectory, the Epeira has contrived a central 

 space, free from glue. 



As for the glue itself, it is hardly possible 

 to study its chemical properties, because the 

 quantity is so slight. The microscope shows 

 it trickling from the broken threads in the 

 form of a transparent and more or less gran- 

 ular streak. The following experiment will 

 tell us more about it. 



With a sheet of glass passed across the web, 

 I gather a series of lime-threads which remain 

 fixed in parallel lines. I cover this sheet with 

 a bell-jar standing in a depth of water. Soon, 

 in this atmosphere saturated with humidity, 

 the threads become enveloped in a watery 

 sheath, which gradually increases and begins 

 to flow. The twisted shape has by this time 

 disappeared; and the channel of the thread 

 reveals a chaplet of translucent orbs, that is to 

 say, a series of extremely fine drops. 



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