408 FOOD OF INSECTS. 



and requires strength, she triples or quadruples by a re- 

 petition of the operation just described ; and from it she 

 draws other threads in various directions, the interstices 

 of which she fills up by running from one to the other, 

 and connecting them by new threads until the whole has 

 assumed the gauze-like texture which we see. Books of 

 natural history, all copying from one another, have de- 

 scribed these kinds of web as fabricated of a regular 

 warp and woof, or of parallel longitudinal lines crossed 

 at right angles by transverse ones glued to them at the 

 points of intersection. This, however, is clearly erro- 

 neous, as you will see by the slightest examination of a 

 web of this kind, in which no such regularity of texture 

 can be discovered. 



The webs just described present merely a simple hori- 

 zontal surface, but others more frequently seen in out- 

 houses and amongst bushes possess a very artificial ap- 

 pendage. Besides the main web, the spider carries up 

 from its edges and surface a number of single threads 

 often to the height of many feet, joining and crossing 

 each other in various directions. Across these lines, 

 which may be compared to the tackling of a ship, flies 

 seem unable to avoid directing their flight. The certain 

 consequence is, that in striking against these ropes they 

 become slightly entangled, and, in their endeavours to 

 disengage themselves, rarely escape being precipitated 

 into the net spread underneath for their reception, where 

 their doom is inevitable. 



But the net is still incomplete. It is necessary that 

 our hunter should conceal her grim visage from the 

 game for which she lies in wait. She does not there- 

 fore station herself upon the surface of her net, but in a 



