236 HOUSE, GARDEN, AND FIELD 



coated, the spider plucks each section like a harp-string, 

 and the vibration thus set up resolves the fluid into count- 

 less drops, too small to be seen by the naked eye. The 

 sticky globules must not be confused with the much 

 larger dew-drops, which are often seen on the web of an 

 autumn morning. When exposed to sun and wind, the 

 adhesive coating soon dries up, but Blackwall found that 

 when the net was enclosed in a glass jar, the adhesive 

 property remained unimpaired for months. 



When in full activity a garden spider makes a new net 

 every day, or at least relays the viscid spiral thread. Old 

 spiders are not able to secrete so much silk, and content 

 themselves with repairing the net so long as it is in fair 

 working order. 



Somewhere in the neighbourhood of the net the spider 

 has her special retreat, concealed usually by the leaves 

 of a bush, and into this she drags her victims, sucking their 

 juices and throwing out the carcases. A stout line of 

 communication, composed of several threads glued together, 

 leads from the centre of the net to this retreat, and by its 

 vibration gives notice to the spider whenever a fresh 

 victim is caught in the snare. The male spiders, which 

 are much smaller than the females, are usually to be found 

 near the retreat. 



Blackwall describes the curious proceeding by which 

 the garden spider and some other Epeiras envelope their 

 prey. When too large and powerful to be safely ap- 

 proached, threads are cut away until the victim dangles ; 

 it is then made to rotate by a touch from one of the spider's 

 legs, fine threads issuing from the spinners being first 

 attached by means of a cautiously extended leg. As the 

 object revolves, it is speedily wrapped up in a dense cover- 

 ing of silk, which makes even struggling impossible. In 

 this way the garden spider deals with formidable insects, 

 such as wasps. 



Her eggs are laid in autumn in a cocoon, formed of a 

 double sheet of yellow silk ; there may be several hundred 



