238 NATURAL HISTORY. [cH. XIV. 



is the spider's first operation. She seems careless 

 about the shape of the area which they enclose, well 

 aware that she can as readily inscribe a circle in a 

 triangle as in a square, and in this respect she is 

 guided by the distance or proximity of the points to 

 which she can attach them. She spares no pains, 

 however, to strengthen and keep them in a proper 

 degree of tension. With the former view she com- 

 poses eacli line of five or six or even more threads 

 glued together ; and with the latter she fixes to them 

 from differc^nt points a numerous and intricate appa- 

 ratus of smaller threads. Having thus completed the 

 foundations of her snare, she proceeds to fill up the 

 outline. Attaching a thread to one of the main lines, 

 she walks along it, guiding it with one of her hind- 

 feet that it may not touch in any part and be pre- 

 maturely glued, and crosses over to the opposite 

 side, where, by applying her spinners, she firmly fixes 

 it. To the middle of this diagonal thread, which is 

 to form the centre of her net, she fixes a second, 

 which in like manner she conveys and fastens to 

 another part of the lines encircling the area. Her 

 work now proceeds rapidly. During the prelimi- 

 nary operations she sometimes rests, as though her 

 plan required meditation. But no sooner are the 

 marginal lines of her net firmly stretched, and two 

 or three radii spun from its centre, than she conti- 

 nues her labour so quickly and unremitiingly that 

 the eye can scarcely follow her progress. The radii, 

 to the number of about twenty, giving the net tlie 

 appearance of a wheel, are speedily finished. She 

 then proceeds to the centre, quickly turns herself 

 round, and pulls each thread with her feet to ascer- 

 tain its strength, breaking any one that seems defect- 

 ive, and replacing it by another. Next, she glues 

 immediately round the centre five or six small con- 

 centric circles, distant about half a line from each 

 other, and then four or five larger ones, each sepa- 

 rated by a space of half an inch or more. These 



