240 ABOUT SPIDERS A2O> THEIR WEBS. 



allowed to fall, the spider will discover it at once, descend 

 again to the ground, pick up the weight, and attach it 

 afresh to the line. In order to assure myself that the 

 spider really acted on a definite principle, I did once or 

 twice break the suspending thread, but of course I shall 

 never repeat the experiment. 



Having made its web, the spider almost invariably 

 takes up its position in the centre, and always places 

 itself with its head downwards, if a spider can be said to 

 have a head. By spreading its legs over as many threads 

 as possible, it is able to feel the least movement in any 

 part of the web. The touch of the tiniest gnat will rouse 

 it from its quiescence, but nothing seems to make it start 

 so suddenly into activity as the approach of another 

 spider. 



Should one spider trespass on the domains of another, 

 the owner will at once dart at the intruder, and a fierce 

 battle is almost invariably the result. When two spiders 

 are nearly equal to each other in strength, the struggle 

 is a very severe one, each trying to act the part of the 

 ancient retiarius, and envelop its antagonist in a net. 

 When one of the combatants succeeds in casting the 

 silken meshes over its adversary, the latter is instantly 

 rolled up so as to render it helpless, and not until then 

 are the poison-fangs driven into its body. 



Not unfrequently, however, the victor receives a fatal 

 wound while making its onslaught, and in that case, 

 after rolling up its adversary, it crawls to another part of 

 the web, gathers its legs close to its body, droops, and dies. 



