Garden Spiders: Pairing and Hunting 



spinning. The Squirrel, in the moving 

 cylinder of his cage, does not display a more 

 graceful or nimbler dexterity. A cross-bar of 

 the sticky spiral serves as an axis for the tiny 

 machine, which turns, turns swiftly, like a spit. 

 It is a treat to the eyes to see it revolve. 



What is the object of this circular motion? 

 See, the brief contact of the spinnerets has 

 given a starting-point for a thread, which the 

 Spider must now draw from her silk- 

 warehouse and gradually roll around the 

 captive, so as to swathe him in a winding- 

 sheet which will overpower any effort made. 

 It is the exact process employed in our wire- 

 mills: a motor-driven spool revolves and, by 

 its action, draws the wire through the narrow 

 eyelet of a steel plate, making it of the fineness 

 required, and, with the same movement, winds 

 it round and round its collar. 



Even so with the Epeira's work. The 

 Spider's front tarsi are the motor; the revolv- 

 ing spool is the captured insect; the steel 

 eyelet is the aperture of the spinnerets. To 

 bind the subject with precision and dispatch 

 nothing could be better than this inexpensive 

 and highly-effective method. 



Less frequently, a second process is em- 



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