The Life of the Spider 



compensating advantages. Both Epeirae, 

 when hunting by day, affect those hot places, 

 exposed to the fierce rays of the sun, wherein 

 the Crickets delight. In the torrid heats of 

 the dog-days, therefore, the lime-threads, but 

 for special provisions, would be liable to 

 dry up, to shrivel into stiff and lifeless fila- 

 ments. But the very opposite happens. At 

 the most scorching times of the day, they 

 continue supple, elastic and more and more 

 adhesive. 



How is this brought about? By their very 

 powers of absorption. The moisture of which 

 the air is never deprived penetrates them 

 slowly; it dilutes the thick contents of their 

 tubes to the requisite degree and causes it to 

 ooze through, as and when the earlier stick- 

 iness decreases. What bird-catcher could vie 

 with the Garden Spider in the art of laying 

 lime-snares? And all this industry and cun- 

 ning for the capture of a Moth ! 



Then, too, what a passion for production! 

 Knowing the diameter of the orb and the 

 number of coils, we can easily calculate the 

 total length of the sticky spiral. We find that, 

 in one sitting, each time that she remakes her 

 web, the Angular Epeira produces some 



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