2ir, TENANTS OF AN 0/J) FARM. 



fi'iir these; delail^^ are already tiresome to some of you, 

 but will only say that the spider moves along the radii 

 and the dry foundation spirals at right angles to them, 

 dragging after her the viscid line, pulling it taut when 

 she comes opposite the point from which she started, 

 very much in the method observed when she makes 

 the radii. Curiously enough, as she completes the 

 spirals, she bites away the foundation spiral behind, 

 just as I have seen builders remove the top timbers of a 

 scaffolding as soon as the upper parts of a wall are sufli- 

 ciently advanced toward completion. 



"Tell me," said Abby, "a little more about these 

 beads. What are they made of?" 



" They are secreted by the spider from glands that lay 

 along with the silk glands in the lower part of the body 

 near the spinning mammals. I have never been able to 

 separate these glands from those that hold the liquid 

 silk, and they are forced out b}' the spider through the 

 spinning-tubes precisely as is the material which forms 

 the web work. They probably have special tul)es 

 through which they are secreted. I do not know the 

 composition of the beads ; but ' Stickwell & Co.' never 

 made anything more viscid. I have kept beaded Avebs in 

 good condition several months. The material looks like 

 gum, but darkens a little with age. It reflects light, 

 and I suspect that, along with the open meshes of the 

 net-like snare, they in this way help to deceive insects 

 approaching on wing with the imi)r('ssion that no 

 obstacle lies in their course." 



"How can the spider make so many beads?" 



