204 LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD. 



Renei. I was very much interested in watch- 

 ing one, one day last summer ; but I was called 

 away before it had spun many threads, and I 

 have never happened to see one at work since. 



Aunt M. Can you tell us how it commenced, 

 and how it arranged these few threads ? 



Renek. Yes, I can ; for I took particular no- 

 tice of it. I was just about to knock the spider 

 down, when, as I stooped to strike it, I saw it 

 press the lower part of its body against the wall, 

 and then walk slowly around the corner to the 

 opposite wall, spinning a thread as it went, 

 which it seemed to be guiding with one of its 

 hind feet, for it held it out all the time. When 

 it reached the opposite side, it gave the thread a 

 pull, and then pressed it against the wall and 

 fastened it. It then walked back over this 

 thread, and spun another, which it fastened to the 

 other wall. I saw it walk backward and forward 

 until it had spun five or six threads, and then I 

 was called away. 



Aunt M. When the spider pressed her spin- 

 nerets against the wall, she was glueing her first 

 thread ; and, as she walked, she held it off with 

 her claw, to prevent it from adhering to anything 



