THE BANDED EPEIRA 187 



the original rotation. Her object is to free the nearest 

 spokes, which supplied pivots for the machinery. They 

 are essential factors which it behooves her to keep intact, 

 if need be by sacrificing a few cross-bars. 



It is done ; the twisted ends are put back into position. 

 The well-trussed game is at last removed from the web 

 and fastened on behind with a thread. The Spider then 

 marches in front and the load is trundled across the web 

 and hoisted to the resting-floor, which is both an inspec- 

 tion-post and a dining-hall. When the Spider is of a 

 species that shuns the light and possesses a telegraph-line, 

 she mounts to her daytime hiding-place along this line, 

 with the game bumping against her heels. 



While she is refreshing herself, let us enquire into the 

 effects of the little bite previously administered to the 

 silk-swathed captive. Does the Spider kill the patient 

 with a view to avoiding unseasonable jerks, protests so 

 disagreeable at dinner-time? Several reasons make me 

 doubt it. In the first place, the attack is so much veiled 

 as to have all the appearance of a mere kiss. Besides, 

 it is made anywhere, at the first spot that offers. The 

 expert slayers employ methods of the highest precision : 

 they give a stab in the neck, or under the throat; they 

 wound the cervical nerve-centers, the seat of energy. 

 The paralyzers, those accomplished anatomists, poison 

 the motor nerve-centers, of which they know the num- 

 ber and position. The Epeira possesses none of this 

 fearsome knowledge. She inserts her fangs at random, 

 as the Bee does her sting. She does not select one spot 

 rather than another; she bites indifferently at whatever 



