94 THE BROOK BOOK 



thread, which, though a spiral, is not the final 

 sticky one. It is a sort of temporary line used by 

 the builder, like the scaffolding about a house. 

 This, too, we had taken on faith, never hoping to 

 see it. But stop ! What is she doing now? Stretch- 

 ing out her long legs, reaching awkwardly from 

 one radius to another and moving rapidly round 

 and round, the spider was nearing the outer part 

 of her web. Behind her, as she stepped, she left 

 a delicate line of silk, forming an uneven spiral 

 which tied the radii together throughout the area 

 which was to become the web proper. There 

 it was before us, the temporary spiral thread illus- 

 trated in the books, but seen now for the first 

 time and really believed in. How we wanted to 

 test it to see if it were dry and inelastic like the 

 rest of the web up to this time ! But we dared 

 not. It was too exciting a moment. It would not 

 do to risk disturbing the weaver. We must see 

 the completion of one web. Next time we did 

 test the temporary spiral and found it dry and firm. 

 The purpose for which it was spun would not have 

 been served by a viscid thread. 



When the first spiral is finished the spider finds 

 herself on the outer rim of the web. It is there 

 that the permanent spiral thread, the real snare, 

 is begun. The first step is to fasten the thread to 

 a radius. This done, the spider walks on the 

 radius toward the center, till she comes to a sec- 

 tion of the temporary spiral. Upon this she crosses 

 to the adjacent radius, spinning out as little of the 

 thread as possible and manipulating it deftly with 



