The Life of the Spider 



the trap at work ? Throw a small Locust into 

 the rigging. Unable to obtain a steady foot- 

 hold on that shaky support, he flounders 

 about ; and the more he struggles the more he 

 entangles his shackles. The Spider, spying on 

 the threshold of her abyss, lets him have his 

 way. She does not run up the shrouds of the 

 mast-work to seize the desperate prisoner; she 

 waits until his bonds of threads, twisted back- 

 wards and forwards, make him fall on the 

 web. 



He falls; the other comes and flings herself 

 upon her prostrate prey. The attack is not 

 without danger. The Locust is demoralized 

 rather than tied up; it is merely bits of broken 

 thread that he is trailing from his legs. The 

 bold assailant does not mind. Without troub- 

 ling, like the Epeirae, to bury her capture un- 

 der a paralyzing shroud, she feels it, to make 

 sure of its quality, and then, regardless of 

 kicks, inserts her fangs. 



The bite is usually given at the lower end of 

 a haunch : not that this place is more vulner- 

 able than any other thin-skinned part, but 

 probably because it has a better flavour. The 

 different webs which I inspect to study the 

 food in the larder show me, among other 



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