238 THE HARMONIES OF NATURE. 



twice or thrice from its glutinous stores ; but after that its sup- 

 plies are exhausted, and then it must either die of hunger, or 

 conquer another net, after having defeated the rightful owner 

 in mortal combat; or endeavour to find an empty web, which is 

 not so very difficult, as the young spiders construct two nets. 



The Grarden Spider, which suspends its vertical or oblique 

 web in open space, works in a different manner. It spins a large 

 quantity of thread, which floating in the air in various directions, 

 happens from its glutinous quality at last to adhere to some ob- 

 ject near it a wall or the branch of a tree. The spider is 

 anxious to have one end of the line fixed, that it may be enabled 

 to secure and tighten the other ; it accordingly draws the line 

 when thus fixed, and then by passing or repassing it, strengthens 

 the thread in such a manner as to answer all its intentions. 

 The first cord being thus stretched, the spider walks along a 

 part of it and there fastens another ; and dropping from thence, 

 affixes the thread to some solid body below; then climbs up 

 again and begins a third, which it fastens by a similar con- 

 trivance. 



Witjrin this framework, which unites strength and elasticity 

 in a remarkable degree, and though yielding to the slightest 

 pressure immediately recovers its position, the spider now 

 begins to spin its beautiful network, composed of a number of 

 straight lines radiating from a common centre, and having a 

 spiral line wound regularly upon them. 



The radiating lines are smooth, whereas the spiral line is 

 thickly studded with minute knobs, to which the efficacy of the 

 net is due, for they are composed of a thick 

 adhesive and viscid substance, and serve to 

 arrest the wings and legs of the insects that 

 happen to touch the net. It has been 

 observed that these viscid threads are of 

 uniform thickness when first spun, but 

 that undulations soon appear in them, and 



Sievelike Spinnaret that the viscid matter S00n accumulates in 



of the Garden Spider. g^^es at regular intervals. 



As the spinnarets of the garden-spider are of a different 



anatomical structure one pair presenting on its surface a num- 



ber of small perforations, the edges of which do not project, and 



which therefore resemble a sieve, while the other is studded with 



