Garden Spiders: Pairing and Hunting 



stickiness of the network. Before going to 

 it, she first makes her prey turn in the converse 

 direction to that of the original rotation. Her 

 object is to free the nearest spokes, which 

 supplied pivots for the machinery. They are 

 essential factors which it behoves her to 

 keep intact, if need be by sacrificing a few 

 cross-bars. 



It is done; the twisted ends are put back 

 into position. The well-trussed game is at 

 last removed from the web and fastened on 

 behind with a thread. The Spider then 

 marches in front and the load is trundled 

 across the web and hoisted to the resting-floor, 

 which is both an inspection-post and a dining- 

 hall. When the Spider is of a species that 

 shuns the light and possesses a telegraph-line, 

 she mounts to her daytime hiding-place along 

 this line, with the game bumping against her 

 heels. 



While she is refreshing herself, let us 

 enquire into the effects of the little bite pre- 

 viously administered to the silk-swathed 

 captive. Does the Spider kill the patient with 

 a view to avoiding unseasonable jerks, pro- 

 tests so disagreeable at dinner-time? Several 

 reasons make me doubt it. In the first place, 



307 



