The Garden Spiders: Building the Web 



iously circumscribed. It is distinguished from 

 the others by its isolation, its position at a 

 distance from any twig that might interfere 

 with its swaying length. It never fails to 

 have, in the middle, a thick white point, 

 formed of a little silk cushion. This is the 

 beacon that marks the centre of the future 

 edifice, the post that will guide the Epeira and 

 bring order into the wilderness of twists and 

 turns. 



The time has come to weave the hunting- 

 snare. The Spider starts from the centre, 

 which bears the white sign-post, and, running 

 along the transversal thread, hurriedly 

 reaches the circumference, that is to say, the 

 irregular frame enclosing the free space. Still 

 with the same sudden movement, she rushes 

 from the circumference to the centre; she 

 starts again backwards and forwards, makes 

 for the right, the left, the top, the bottom; 

 she hoists herself up, dives down, climbs up 

 again, runs down and always returns to the 

 central landmark by roads that slant in the 

 most unexpected manner. Each time a radius 

 or spoke is laid, here, there, or elsewhere, in 

 what looks like mad disorder. 



The operation is so erratically conducted 

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