110 Till. STORY-HOOK OF SCIENCE 



round spectacles on her nose, was knitting stockings. 

 On her knees the cat slept and mingled its purring 

 with the tick-tack of the needles. The children were 

 waiting for the story of the spider. Their uncle 

 began. 



" Which of you three can tell me what spiders do 

 with their webs, those fine webs stretched in the 

 corners of the granary or between two shrubs in the 

 garden !" 



Emile spoke first. "It is their nest, Uncle, their 

 house, their hiding-place." 



"Hiding-place!" exclaimed Jules; "yes, I think it 

 is more than that. One day I heard, between the 

 lilac branches, a little shrill noise Jie-e-e-e! A 

 blue fly was entangled in a cobweb and trying to 

 escape. It was the fly that was making the noise 

 with its fluttering. A spider ran from the bottom 

 of the silken funnel, seized the fly, and carried it 

 off to its hole, doubtless to eat it. Since then I have 

 thought spiders' webs were hunting nets." 



"That is even so," said his uncle. "All spiders 

 live on live prey; they make continual war on flies, 

 gnats, and other insects. If you fear mosquitoes, 

 those insufferable little insects that sting us at night 

 until they bring blood, you must bless the spider, 

 for it does its best to rid us of them. To catch game, 

 a net is necessary. Now, the net to catch flies in 

 their flight is a cloth woven with silk, which the 

 spider itself produces. 



"In the body of the insect the silky matter is, as 

 with caterpillars, a sticky liquid resembling glue or 

 gum. As soon as it comes in contact with the air, 



