172 THE BRITISH NATURE BOOK 



threads as guys or stays. Then from the centre point the spider spins its 

 radiating lines, all of which are double. Finally, beginning again at the centre, 

 the spider weaves its spiral lines from one radial to another, until, in something 

 like an hour's time, the task is complete. If the web is examined through a 

 lens, it will be found that the spiral lines (except those near the centre) are 

 covered with sticky globules, and it is these lines which hold fast the insects 

 which touch them. As is natural, these spiral lines have to be renewed, as the 

 globules dry up in the air. 



The House Spider's snare is a gauzy sheet of fine lines, none of them sticky, 

 in which the insect is literally entangled. 



The eggs of spiders are usually laid from June to October, and are covered 

 with a cocoon of yellow silk until September or the next spring. 



Spiders can be kept in captivity with very little trouble. A glass jar makes 

 a good prison, and it is interesting to discover how intelligent your captive 

 becomes, recognizing the tune when you are about to " feed "it. I have fre- 

 quently kept specimens for the whole season in this way. Care should be taken 

 to provide water as well as insects for these " pets." Spiders, if collected as 

 specimens, should be kiUed by dropping either into boiling water or spirit, 

 and should be kept in a small glass tube filled with turpentine, formalin, or 

 other preservative. 



In studying these animals, take notice of the kind of web, the position 

 (whether in bushes or grass, on a tree trunk or wall, etc., whether in a dry or 

 damp situation). The spider itself may be found either by just touching the 

 web gently, when the chances are that the animal will dart forward, expecting 

 a victim, or by tracing the clue line which leads from the centre of the web 

 to the hiding-place. The courtship of spiders is very interesting. The males 

 fight one another for the possession of a female, and then pose before her in the 

 most grotesque attitudes. The lady, however, is not easy to please, and may 

 kill and eat her would-be suitors before yielding to a favoured one. Opposed 

 to this unmaiden-like ferocity, the mother spider often evinces real care for her 

 eggs and young, the Wolf Spider, for example, carrying her eggs in a round 

 cocoon attached to her body until hatched, and then carrying the young till 

 they are old enough to shift for themselves. 



Gossamer. Many young spiders travel by means of a sort of gossamer para- 

 chute. Standing on tiptoe, with abdomen elevated, the young spider spins out 

 into the air a silken thread which floats upward. When this is sufficiently long 

 the spider gives a slight jump into the air, and is thus launched on its aerial 

 voyage, to descend at last some distance perhaps miles from its starting 

 point. It is these floating threads which, whether in the air or at last 

 entangled in vegetation, are known as gossamer. 



One other point I mention in the form of a question which has often 

 been put to me, and the answer to it is not to be found in any popular book 

 on the subject of spiders which I have read : When a spider ascends its 

 thread, what does it do with the thread ? It does not climb it like 



