THE BANDED EPEIRA 201 



this attitude, with her hand, so to speak, on the telegraph- 

 receiver, knows nothing of one of the most curious 

 instances of animal cleverness. Let any game appear 

 upon the scene; and the slumberer, forthwith aroused 

 by means of the leg receiving the vibrations, hastens up. 

 A Locust whom I myself lay on the web procures her 

 this agreeable shock and what follows. If she is satisfied 

 with her bag, I am still more satisfied with what I have 

 learnt. 



One word more. The web is often shaken by the 

 wind. The different parts of the framework, tossed and 

 teased by the eddying air-currents, cannot fail to transmit 

 their vibrations to the signaling-thread. Nevertheless, 

 the Spider does not quit her hut and remains indifferent 

 to the commotion prevailing in the net. Her line, there- 

 fore, is something better than a bell-rope that pulls and 

 communicates the impulse given: it is a telephone 

 capable, like our own, of transmitting infinitesimal waves 

 of sound. Clutching her telephone-wire with a toe, the 

 Spider listens with her leg; she perceives the innermost 

 vibrations; she distinguishes between the vibration pro- 

 ceeding from a prisoner and the mere shaking caused 

 by the wind. 



