THE BANDED EPEIRA 195 



It took the shaking of the web to decide them to attack. 



Perhaps the gray color of the Locust is not suffi- 

 ciently conspicuous to attract attention by itself. Then 

 let us try red, the brightest color to our retina and 

 probably also to the Spiders'. None of the game hunted 

 by the Epeirse being clad in scarlet, I make a small 

 bundle out of red wool, a bait of the size of a Locust. 

 I glue it to the web. 



My stratagem succeeds. r As long as the parcel is sta- 

 tionary, the Spider is not roused; but, the moment it 

 trembles, stirred by my straw, she runs up eagerly. 



There are silly ones who just touch the thing with 

 their legs and, without further enquiries, swathe it in 

 silk after the manner of the usual game. They even go 

 so far as to dig their fangs into the bait, following the 

 rule of the preliminary poisoning. Then and then only 

 the mistake is recognized and the tricked Spider retires 

 and does not come back, unless it be long afterwards, 

 when she flings the lumber some object out of the web. 



There are also clever ones. Like the others, these 

 hasten to the red-woolen lure, which my straw insidi- 

 ously keeps moving; they come from their tent among 

 the leaves as readily as from the center of the web; they 

 explore it with their palpi and their legs; but, soon 

 perceiving that the thing is valueless, they are careful 

 not to spend their silk on useless bonds. My quivering 

 bait does not deceive them. It is flung out after a brief 

 inspection. 



Still, the clever ones, like the silly ones, run even from 

 a distance, from their leafy ambush. How do they 



