Garden Spiders: The Telegraph-Wire 



Why, moreover, does this line always start 

 in the centre of the sticky network and never 

 elsewhere? Because that is the point where 

 the spokes meet and, therefore, the common 

 centre of vibration. Anything that moves 

 upon the web sets it shaking. All then that 

 is needed is a thread issuing from this central 

 point to convey to a distance the news of a 

 prey struggling in some part or other of the 

 net. The slanting cord, extending outside the 

 plane of the web, is more than a foot-bridge: 

 it is, above all, a signalling-apparatus, a 

 telegraph-wire. 



Let us try experiment. I place a Locust 

 on the network. Caught in the sticky toils, he 

 plunges about. Forthwith, the Spider issues 

 impetuously from her hut, comes down the 

 foot-bridge, makes a rush for the Locust, 

 wraps him up and operates on him according 

 to rule. Soon after, she hoists him, fastened 

 by a line to her spinneret, and drags him to 

 her hiding-place, where a long banquet will be 

 held. So far, nothing new : things happen as 

 usual. 



I leave the Spider to mind her own affairs 

 for some days, before I interfere with her. I 

 again propose to give her a Locust; but, this 

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