340 TJie Garden- Spider as an Architect. [Sess. 



to the anxious watcher as the capture of a gnat, while the 

 advent of a common fly may have raised visions in the 

 spider's mind of full-grown " blue -bottles." To provide 

 against such false alarms, the spider resolved to remedy the 

 defect complained of, — but how ? "We can imagine him 

 strengthening a band here and there, and thereafter carefully 

 testing the result. Such methods all ended in failure ; and 

 in this, as in other cases, necessity was the mother of inven- 

 tion. The spider evidently thought that if he could get a 

 weight of some kind attached to the outside of the web, the 

 defect might be cured; but how this was to be done must 

 have occasioned a deal of thought. Ultimately, however, he 

 determined on getting one of the small stones lying about on 

 the walk below lifted to his abode on high, and with this 

 view he let himself down by a rope to the ground, and 

 selected a stone suitable for his purpose. To this stone he 

 made the line fast by attaching a small thread to each end 

 of the pebble, in exactly the same manner as masons fasten a 

 stone with the " shears " attached to a crane. This done, the 

 spider clambered up to his web. He next proceeded to lift 

 the stone into the web, and, when first observed on the 

 morning of the 3d September last, the stone was hanging 

 about three inches from the ground. In less than an hour, 

 however, the distance was increased to over three feet ; and 

 before the middle of the day the spider had the pebble drawn 

 up to within about a foot or eighteen inches of his web, when 

 he ceased operations for the day. There it hung the whole 

 afternoon, suspended by the two small threads ; and as there 

 was a good stiff breeze blowing, the stone swung backwards 

 and forwards like the pendulum of a clock. Next morning 

 the spider had the stone drawn into the centre of the floating 

 portion of the web, and made fast there. 



During the whole of that day the spider had cause for 

 congratulation, as the position of the stone appeared to give 

 the web a certain solidity which was before absent. This 

 satisfaction was short-lived, however, as, like all " castles in 

 the air," this one too was of short duration. That night 

 there was a heavy mist, with slight rain, which, settling on 

 the web, rendered it so fragile that the mere weight of the 

 stone broke it loose from its fastenings, and it accordingly 



