THE INSTINCT OF SPIDERS 133 



circling round the snare, crossing from radius to radius 

 and attaching the viscid spiral to each radius in its pas- 

 sage. I divided one radius immediately after the spider 

 had attached to it the spiral. The spider circled on. It 

 again came round to the severed radius. The radius 

 being gone, the spider found before it a segment twice 

 the normal width. It had to cross over two bridges 

 instead of one, extend a line twice the previous length, 

 as it had now to span two segments with the one line. 

 Nevertheless, the spider did not seem confused. It 

 made no attempt to replace the radius, but kept 

 straight on. I then divided a second and adjoining 

 radius so that the spider had to perform three times 

 the journey and bridge a gap three times as wide as 

 was required in the uninjured segments, yet the spider 

 worked on. I divided a third and adjoining radius, 

 subsequently a fourth, but still the spider continued its 

 monotonous circuit. It made no attempt at any repair, 

 but kept blindly to its routine. On severing a fifth 

 radius, the bridge in the temporary spiral over which 

 the spider crossed had not only become six times the 

 normal length, but also so loose and slack that the spider 

 found some difficulty in passing over it. The spider 

 clearly felt something was wrong ; it checked its course 

 round and round the snare ; it hesitated, ran back- 

 wards along the lengthened bridge searching vainly 

 with its legs for the broken radii. A few new spokes 

 would solve its difficulties, nothing else was required, 

 yet the spider could not do it. It made no attempt at 

 any repair, but again continued the circuit. I divided 

 a sixth radius. The bridge was now very slack and 

 the spider very discomfited during the crossing. It 

 was most amusing to see the little creature sweeping 



