SPIDERS' WEBS 



45 



the "snares" are not likely to be disturbed, is behind a pipe which 

 runs down from the roof where two walls meet. Here, spiders 

 brought from other spots are almost sure to spin their webs one 

 above the other. Many interesting experiments may be carried out 

 with regard to the food which they will or will not accept. As the 

 spider lies in shadow ready to pounce upon her prey, her eyes shine 

 like tiny drops of quicksilver. 

 The rapidity of her movements 

 are almost startling, and it is 

 often difficult to take a leisurely 

 view of the animal. The intro- 

 duction of a centipede, particu- 

 larly one of the long slender 

 yellow kind, into the web, will, 

 however, give its owner consider- 

 able work to do in the open. 

 For instance while two or three 

 legs on one side are being freed 

 by the spider with a view to 

 carrying her capture into the 

 den, a dozen more on the other, 

 are becoming equally entangled. 



In order to keep one of these 

 spiders in-doors in safety, all one 

 has to do is to get a card-board box (such as those in which boots 

 and shoes are packed) with a piece of thick paper doubled once 

 or twice to form a " den," two paper fasteners with which to 

 fix it in position (see figure 44), and a sheet of glass to replace 

 the lid. 



A number of pin holes should be made in the sides of [the box so 



From a photograph by Wilfred Mark Webb. 



FIGURE 44. The House Spider. 



