The Garden Spiders: The Lime-Snare 



just as well as anything else would, the unoiled 

 straw, for instance. 



Did I guess aright when I judged that it 

 was a fatty substance that preserved the 

 Epeira from the snares of her sticky 

 Catherine-wheel? The action of the carbon 

 disulphide seems to say yes. Besides, there is 

 no reason why a substance of this kind, which 

 plays so frequent a part in animal economy, 

 should not coat the Spider very slightly by the 

 mere act of perspiration. We used to rub our 

 fingers with a little oil before handling the 

 twigs in which the Goldfinch was to be caught; 

 even so the Epeira varnishes herself with a 

 special sweat, to operate on any part of her 

 web without fear of the lime-threads. 



However, an unduly protracted stay on the 

 sticky threads would have its drawbacks. In 

 the long run, continual contact with those 

 threads might produce a certain adhesion and 

 inconvenience the Spider, who must preserve 

 all her agility in order to rush upon the prey 

 before it can release itself. For this reason, 

 gummy threads are never used in building the 

 post of interminable waiting. 



It is only on her resting-floor that the 

 Epeira sits, motionless and with her eight legs 

 277 



