FOOD or INSECTS. 411 



oblique direction, in an opening- between the leaves of 

 some shrub or plant, it is obvious that round its whole 

 extent will be required lines to which can be attached 

 those ends of the radii that are furthest from the centre. 

 Accordingly the construction of these exterior lines is 

 the spider's first operation. She seems careless about 

 the shape of the area which they inclose, 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 at- 

 tach them. She spares no pains, however, to strengthen 

 and keep them in a proper degree of tension. With 

 the former view she composes each line of five or six or 

 even more threads glued together; and with the latter 

 she fixes to thera from different points a numerous and 

 intricate apparatus 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 

 prematurely 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 preliminary operations she some^ 

 times rests, as though her plan required meditation. 

 But no sooner are the marginal lines of her net firmly 



* I am not certain whether the garden spider does not more frequently 

 form one or two of the principal radii of the net, before she spins ihe ex^ 

 terior lines. 



