266 The Life of the Spider 



And this vibration, though so close at hand, 

 does not rouse the Spider in the least, does not 

 make her even turn round to enquire what is 

 going on. The moment that her signalling-thread 

 ceases to work, she knows nothing of passing 

 events. All day long, she remains without stir- 

 ring. In the evening, at eight o'clock, she sallies 

 forth to weave the new web and at last finds the 

 rich windfall whereof she was hitherto unaware. 



One word more. The web is often shaken by 

 the wind. The different parts of the framework, 

 tossed and teased by the eddying air-currents, 

 cannot fail to transmit their vibration to the 

 signaUing-thread. Nevertheless, the Spider does 

 not quit her hut and remains indifferent to the 

 commotion prevailing in the net. Her line, 

 therefore, is something better than a bell-rope 

 that pulls and communicates the impulse given : 

 it is a telephone capable, hke our own, of trans- 

 mitting infinitesimal waves of sound. Clutching 

 her telephone-wire with a toe, the Spider listens 

 with her leg ; she perceives the innermost vibra- 

 tions; she distinguishes between the vibration 

 proceeding from a prisoner and the mere shaking 

 caused by the wind. 



