236 The Life of the Spider 



And this is no case of distraction, of individual 

 carelessness ; all the large spinstresses suffer 

 from a similar incapacity for patching. The 

 Banded Epeira and the Silky Epeira are note- 

 worthy in this respect. The Angular Epeira 

 remakes her web nearly every evening ; the 

 other two reconstruct theirs only very seldom 

 and use them even when extremely dilapidated. 

 They go on hunting with shapeless rags. Before 

 they bring themselves to weave a new web, the 

 old one has to be ruined beyond recognition. 

 Well, I have often noted the state of one of these 

 ruins and, the next morning, I have found it as 

 it was, or even more dilapidated. Never any 

 repairs ; never ; never. I am sorry, because of 

 the reputation which our hard-pressed theorists 

 have given her, but the Spider is absolutely 

 unable to mend her work. In spite of her 

 thoughtful appearance, the Epeira is incapable 

 of the modicum of reflexion required to insert a 

 piece into an accidental gap. 



Other Spiders are unacquainted with wide- 

 meshed nets and weave satins wherein the 

 threads, crossing at random, form a continuous 

 substance. Among this number is the House 



