i8o THE WONDERS OF INSTINCT 



How is this brought about? By their very powers of 

 absorption. The moisture of which the air is never de- 

 prived penetrates them slowly; it dilutes the thick con- 

 tents of their tubes to the requisite degree and causes it 

 to ooze through, as and when the earlier stickiness de- 

 creases. What bird-catcher could vie with the Garden 

 Spider in the art of laying lime-snares? And all this 

 industry and cunning for the capture of a Moth! 



I should like an anatomist endowed with better imple- 

 ments than mine and with less tired eyesight to explain 

 to us the work of the marvelous rope-yard. How is the 

 silky matter molded into a capillary tube? How is this 

 tube filled with glue and tightly twisted ? And how does 

 this same mill also turn out plain threads, wrought first 

 into a framework and then into muslin and satin? What 

 a number of products to come from that curious factory, 

 a Spider's belly ! I behold the results, but fail to under- 

 stand the working of the machine. I leave the problem 

 to the masters of the microtome and the scalpel. 



The Hunt 



The Epeirae are monuments of patience in their lime- 

 snare. With her head down and her eight legs wide- 

 spread, the Spider occupies the center of the web, the 

 receiving-point of the information sent along the spokes. 

 If anywhere, behind or before, a vibration occur, the 

 sign of a capture, the Epeira knows about it, even with- 

 out the aid of sight. She hastens up at once. 



Until then, not a movement: one would think that 



