NATURE'S CRAFTSMEN 



lassoing lines as they sway back and forth around it. 

 We may therefore count this swaying of her web as one 

 of Argiope's tricks to secure her prey. 



Next to gaining its food the animars instinct looks 

 to its safety. Many perils beset Argiope and her ilk 

 besides the collecting-bottle of a naturalist, or the club 

 of a thoughtless boy, or of a foolish man who still has 

 the ill manner of "killing those who are sent unto him." 

 Her tribe are cannibals, one is loath to confess, and must 

 be watched and fended against. And then the raiding 

 wasps! Of all merciless enemies, these are the most 

 death-dealing, especially at their time of maternal ac- 

 tivity in provisioning their egg-nests. Now, if you will 

 observe closely, you shall find that this rapid swaying 

 and whirling of Argiope's orb must confuse the aim of 

 a foraging foe and tend to shut it from her quarters, 

 or even so entangle it as to verify in the raider's expe- 

 rience the adage, " Caught a Tartar." Here, confessedly, 

 we are theorizing; and if the reader has an hypothesis 

 that better pleases him, let him hold it stoutly. 



But while we stand theorizing, a grasshopper comes 

 our way. How gracefully he swings on yonder grass 

 stalk! How gayly he skips! What an athlete he in 

 jumping! Alas! he has made one jump too many, for 

 his last leap — literally his last — lands him upon the 

 fatal snare of Orange Argiope. Saw you ever a swifter 

 transformation than this which befalls? Our spider, 

 hanging there so placidly and seeming so lethargic, has 

 instantly become a type of frenzied energy. She leaps 

 upon the partly entangled insect. She seizes it with 

 her sharp claws and strong spiked legs. From her spin- 

 nerets pours forth a stream of silk ribbon which, dex- 

 terously drawn out by the hind feet, encompasses the 



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