24 THE FIRST DIVERS 



ness of life it fastens together several submerged stems of 

 aquatic plants with bindings of silk, and then fashions a 

 sheet of the same material, swung horizontally between 

 the stems. This is held in place by many guy ropes but is 

 loose and waving. 



The spider then ascends to the surface, protrudes its 

 abdomen and its crossed, hinder pair of legs, and by a dex- 

 trous flip or downward jerk detaches a piece of atmosphere 

 and starts downward with it. This is not as easy as it would 

 seem and the slippery bubble often oozes out between the 

 legs and goes hurtling to the surface. The dense growth of 

 hairs on body and legs is the most important factor in 

 bubble-snatching and a rather pathetic thing has been 

 noticed, that in old spiders, where the body hairs have 

 become soiled or disheveled or worn to baldness, air can no 

 longer be detached and carried about, and this means 

 death in a very short time. 



If the openwork basket of legs and body has no air 

 leak, the bubble is taken down and liberated beneath the 

 silken sheet. It rises against the spread canopy, coming to 

 rest in a little bulge of the air-tight fabric. Again and 

 again this is repeated until, from mound-like, the silk 

 has been molded into a deep umbrella shape. In the course 

 of the many trips we notice that the descent is effortless, 

 the spider being drawn with mysterious speed and ac- 

 curacy directly to the roof of the bell. This is accom- 

 plished by a silken guy rope, spun from roof to spider, 

 and when the latter is at the surface this strand is under 



