1 68 The Life of the Spider 



slips down, in spite of her persistent forward 

 striving. She is at last brought back to the 

 branch by the falling thread. Here, the ascent 

 is soon renewed, either on a fresh thread, if the 

 supply of silk be not yet exhausted, or on a 

 strange thread, the work of those who have 

 gone before. 



As a rule, the ceiling is reached. It is twelve 

 feet high. The little Spider is able, therefore, 

 as the first product of her spinning-mill, before 

 taking any refreshment, to obtain a line fully 

 twelve feet in length. And all this, the rope- 

 maker and her rope, was contained in the ^g%, 

 a particle of no size at all. To what a degree of 

 fineness can the silky matter be wrought where- 

 with the young Spider is provided ! Our 

 manufacturers are able to turn out platinum- 

 wire that can only be seen when it is made red- 

 hot. With much simpler means, the Spiderling 

 draws from her wire-mill threads so delicate that 

 even the brilliant light of the sun does not always 

 enable us to discern them. 



We must not let all the climbers be stranded 

 on the ceiling, an inhospitable region where most 

 of them will doubtless perish, being unable to 



