POISON-FANG AND STILETTO 151 



the foliage, it has totally disappeared from the 

 webs. It is obvious that so long as the web 

 remains a conspicuous sparkling object, flashing 

 bright points of light in the sunshine, no fly will 

 approach or blunder into it, and Madam Spider 

 must needs go hungry. Consequently, when 

 she awakens from her slumber beneath some 

 sheltering leaf on the edge of her snare, her first 

 business is to prepare her web for the capture 

 of her breakfast. Finding her web all sparkling 

 in the bright morning light, she makes a sudden 

 rush to its centre, and by a series of rapid move- 

 ments sets every strand in rapid vibration, so 

 that in a very few seconds every dew-drop has 

 been shaken off, and the web, except from 

 certain points of view, has become nearly 

 invisible. She then returns to her shelter under 

 the leaf, and keeping a couple of her feet upon 

 the radiating lines of the web, so that she will 

 feel the slightest vibration caused by the impact 

 of an insect, patiently awaits events. It is not 

 long before a large fly blunders into the web, 

 and begins to buzz and struggle wildly ; in an 

 instant Madam Spider is on the alert, and 

 rushing upon her unfortunate victim begins to 

 swiftly rotate him by the aid of her first and 

 third pairs of legs, drawing out from her 

 spinnerets, with the comb-like claws and 

 bristles on her hind legs, a number of fine silken 

 threads with which she quickly swathes her now 

 helpless and rapidly revolving prey. In a few 

 seconds she has the fly trussed up from head to 

 foot in a dense silken covering, and then she 

 calmly sinks her poison fangs into the quivering 



