ARGONAUT AND GEOMETER. 



m 



FIG. 71. — PUTTINCi SPOKES TO THE 

 WHEEL. 



(Fig. 71), at or 

 near the middle 

 point of whicli 

 she gathers or 

 spins a little tuft 

 of white silk, 

 which I mark 11. 

 From this point 

 she proceeds to 

 put in what we 

 may call her first 

 radius, H K. I 



will draw this figure (Fig. 72) to show how this is 

 done. She drops her spinnerets upon the central tuft 

 (H), and draws out a line which she seizes hy one of 

 her hind claws and holds out from her hody. She 

 then begins to ascend the upper part (a) of the diameter 

 a c, and thence passes along the inner foundation line 

 K [Ki, Fig. 71) to the point K. All this time she drags 

 after her the line which I represent by this dotted line 

 X, holding it far enough aloof to keep it from entan- 

 gling with the thread over which she moves. At K 

 (Fig. 72) she stops, pulls this di'ag- 

 line taut, fastens it down to K, 

 and thus has her first radius K e 

 H. She now returns to the middle 

 point H, either along the new ra- 

 dius c, or by the round about 

 „.-, course of Ji and n. Her next ra- 



FIG. 72. — THE FIRST 



RADIX. dius is laid in precisely the same 



