AN EIGHT-LEGGED ISHMAELITE. 37 



hunt. A spider has a dual character ; at one time he is a 

 fierce beast of prey ; at another the timid fugitive trying 

 to escape from the jaws of his hungry oppressor. For a 

 skilled Nimrod commend me to the spider. It is true that 

 he has as yet invented neither gun nor rifle ; but to employ 

 such a weapon is a confession of weakness. If you can 

 catch your game by running after him. of what use is a 

 rifle? 



The majority of spiders secure their prey by means of 

 traps. The web is the snare most commonly employed. 

 Since everyone knows how a spider builds its web, I shall 

 confine myself to a few remarks on the completed structure. 

 There are webs and webs. Many are the degrees of pro- 

 ficiency in the art of web weaving. The geometrical spider 

 is the most skilled architect. He constructs a circular web 

 with a number of lines radiating from the centre. Strength 

 and lightness are here cunningly combined. Not long ago 

 I espied a spider half hidden among the leaves of a virgin- 

 ian creeper. I took a twig and with it prodded the un- 

 fortunate arachnid. He, not without reason, resented the 

 treatment, and kicked out at the twig, and while doing so 

 attached a line of silk to it. Observing this I proceeded to 

 walk away with the twig. This action put the spider in a 

 quandary. By nature he is a most careful animal. He 

 wastes nothing. Break up his web and he will eat what 

 remains. Now here was this spider. He had attached a 

 silken line to a twig, which, contrary to his past experience, 

 began to move away from him. He had either to let out 

 more line or lose what he had already given out. He 

 found himself, in fact, in the position of many an unfor- 

 tunate human investor. The spider, doubtless with many 

 misgivings, adopted the former course. When he had 

 given out some twenty feet of line I stuck the twig into a 

 tree, so that the silken thread formed a bridge connecting 

 a tree with an angry spider. The line was able to support 

 its own weight, which, considering its tenuity, was no 

 mean feat. In order to see how much extra weight the 



