The Life of the Spider 



Let us look attentively behind the web of 

 any Epeira with a daytime hiding-place: we 

 shall see a thread that starts from the centre 

 of the network, ascends in a slanting line out- 

 side the plane of the web and ends at the am- 

 bush where the Spider lurks all day. Except 

 at the central point, there is no connection be- 

 tween this thread and the rest of the work, no 

 interweaving with the scaffolding-threads. 

 Free of impediment, the line runs straight 

 from the centre of the net to the ambush-tent. 

 Its length averages twenty-two inches. The 

 Angular Epeira, settled high up in the trees, 

 has shown me some as long as eight or nine 

 feet. 



There is no doubt that this slanting line is 

 a foot-bridge which allows the Spider to re- 

 pair hurriedly to the web, when summoned 

 by urgent business, and then, when her round 

 is finished, to return to her hut. In fact, it is 

 the road which I see her follow, in going and 

 coming. But is that all? No; for, if the 

 Epeira had no aim in view but a means of 

 rapid transit between her tent and the net, the 

 foot-bridge would be fastened to the upper 

 edge of the web. The journey would be 

 shorter and the slope less steep. 



286 



