2i6 The Life of the Spider 



or the other course is taken, the spinstress does 

 not change it, even after incidents that some- 

 times occur to disturb the progress of the work. 

 It may happen that a Gnat gets caught in the 

 part already woven. The Spider thereupon 

 abruptly interrupts her labours, hastens up to 

 the prey, binds it and then returns to where she 

 stopped and continues the spiral in the same 

 order as before. 



At the commencement of the work, gyration 

 in one direction being employed as well as 

 gyration in the other, we see that, when making 

 her repeated webs, the same Epeira turns now 

 her right side, now her left to the centre of the 

 coil. Well, as we have said, it is always with 

 the inner hind-leg, the leg nearer the centre, 

 that is to say, in some cases the right and in some 

 cases the left leg, that she places the thread in 

 position, an exceedingly delicate operation call- 

 ing for the display of exquisite skill, because of 

 the quickness of the action and the need for 

 preserving strictly equal distances. Any one 

 seeing this leg working with such extreme 

 precision, the right leg to-day, the left to- 

 morrow, becomes convinced that the Epeira is 

 highly ambidextrous. 



