300 The Life of the Spider 



on the edge of the web ; the other lurking in 

 her hut ; both apparently most uneasy. At 

 sunset, the lover of darkness plucks up courage. 

 She descends from her green tent and, without 

 troubling about the stranger, goes straight to 

 the centre of the web, where the telegraph-wire 

 brings her. Panic-stricken at this apparition, 

 the Banded Epeira releases herself with a jerk 

 and disappears in the rosemary- thicket. 



The experiment, though repeatedly renewed 

 with different subjects, gave me no other 

 results. Distrustful of a web dissimilar to her 

 own, if not in structure, at least in stickiness, 

 the bold Banded Epeira shows the white feather 

 and refuses to attack the Cross Spider. The 

 latter, on her side, either does not budge from 

 her day shelter in the foliage, or else rushes 

 back to it, after taking a hurried glance at the 

 stranger. She here awaits the coming of the 

 night. Under favour of the darkness, which 

 gives her fresh courage and activity, she re- 

 appears upon the scene and puts the intruder 

 to flight by her mere presence, aided, if need 

 be, by a cuff or two. Injured right is the 

 victor. 



