XVIII 



WEB -SPINNER AT WORK 



IT was June before we became fully aware of 

 the activity of spider-life all about us. Four times 

 a day we had crossed the bridge over our stream, 

 all unconscious of the tiny engineers working so 

 silently with their ropes of gossamer. Then we 

 awoke and watched them. We had read in a book 

 of the web-building of the orb-weaver and had 

 weakly taken all its statements for granted. We 

 had even analyzed the web after the manner sug- 

 gested, and had no difficulty at all in discriminat- 

 ing between the guy-lines, the radii and the spiral. 

 It was a revelation, I'll admit, to learn that the 

 circular threads, laid on the spokes with what 

 appeared to be geometrical nicety, were not made 

 up of concentric circles. Artists make them so; 

 why not spiders? Though incredulous when told 

 that this was a spiral line, we found that it was 

 possible to trace the thread round and round from 

 the center in ever widening curves. Later when 

 we actually saw the orb-weaver build her web, it 

 was easy to see how much more economical of 

 time and effort was the spider's way. 



"The orb -weaver uses two kinds of silk in 

 constructing her web. The guy-lines and the radii 

 are of strong, dry and inelastic thread, while the 

 spiral line is viscid and elastic." So said the 



(88) 



