ARGONAVT AND GEOMETEE. 



fk;. 74:. — ,>riu.vL ^•ou^'DATIO^■s — itt- 



TING IN THE SPIRALS. 



engineer begins 

 and moves up- 

 ward (we will 

 say) and out- 

 ward until she 

 spins the lines 

 marked I, II, 

 III, ly, etc. 

 These are the 

 spiral founda- 

 tions. Xow the 

 movement is 

 reversed. The 

 spider begins 



at the outer margin of her spiral foundations, and from 

 that point carries a lino around, moving at each round 

 a little nearer the center. She stops at the inner line 

 Avhere her foundation spirals had begun (I, Fig. 74). 

 The series thus formed constitutes the spiral space, 

 and the lines of this space are the ' rounds ' of what 

 A bby called the 'ladders.' In fact, a section of this 

 part of the web is quite like the shrouds or rope-lad- 

 ders of a ship. But woe to the voyager who tries to 

 climb them ! They are covered with a substance as 

 sticky as that which has given the ancient mariner his 

 favorite nickname of 'old tar,' for these are the viscid 

 spirals of which I spoke a moment ago. 



" In spinning this series, the foundation spirals are 

 used precisely as a scaffolding is used for erecting a 

 house. I will not explain the process at length, as I 



