The Labyrinth Spider 311 



every branch. There are long ropes and short 

 ropes, upright and slanting, straight and bent, 

 taut and slack, all criss-cross and a-tangle, to 

 the height of three feet or so in inextricable 

 disorder. The whole forms a chaos of netting, 

 a labyrinth which none can pass through, unless 

 he be endowed with wings of exceptional power. 



We have here nothing similar to the lime- 

 threads used by the Garden Spiders. The 

 threads are not sticky ; they act only by their 

 confused multitude. Would you care to see 

 the trap at work ? Throw a small Locust into 

 the rigging. Unable to obtain a steady foot- 

 hold on that shaky support, he flounders about ; 

 and the more he struggles the more he entangles 

 his shackles. The Spider, spying on the thresh- 

 old of her abyss, lets him have his way. She 

 does not run up the shrouds of the mast-work 

 to seize the desperate prisoner ; she waits until 

 his bonds of threads, twisted backwards and 

 forwards, make him fall on the web. 



He falls ; the other comes and flings herself 

 upon her prostrate prey. The attack is not 

 without danger. The Locust is demoralized 

 rather than tied up ; it is merely bits of broken 



