LIFE AMONGST THE SPIDERS. 117 



si i all take his captive fly. These lines of web give us an 

 idea of a telegraph-wire. Hiding in a hole very near her" 

 dwelling, the spider fastens one of the lines to her web, 

 and attaches it to herself in her hiding-place, and directly 

 the message comes for which she is waiting, she rushes 

 down upon her victim just like a cat upon a mouse. 



I have likened the spider's web to a telegraph-wire, 

 believing it to answer a similar purpose, namely, the 

 conveyance of news. While these pages were in manu- 

 script, that is in the autumn of 1889, I visited the busy 

 city of Antwerp, and crossing one of its thoroughfares by 

 the side of the river, to my great delight I saw a novelty 

 in the telegraph-wires, and this cut represents it. 



VL,cid thread, A, and ordinary thread, B, of garden spider. The former exactly represent* 

 the Antwerp telegraph-wire. 



Now, where do you suppose I found this very figure ? 

 In the late Dr. Carpenter's work on "The Microscope 

 and its Revelations," p. 685. 



It is very interesting to see what pains the spider 

 takes in ascertaining the completion of her work. When 

 it is finished she pauses, surveys it, tugs hard at each 

 thread, then shakes her body hard and plump to test it, 

 breaking off with the thumb of her "hand" any loose 

 parts, and actually replacing defective strands, and then 

 running a number of small circles in the centre of the 

 net closer to each other. Thereafter comes a storm or 

 some rude hand and sweeps all away, and she has nearly 

 emptied herself over that precious net. W T hat will she 

 do ? Give up ? Never ! " Never give up ! " is a spider's 

 motto ; why should it not be ours ? 



