46 THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



imagining that an insect has been caught, and will rush hurriedly 

 over the web in search. Some species of Epeira, but not as a rule 

 E. diademata, leave clear spaces not crossed by the spirals on 

 either side of one spoke which is thus isolated ; others carry a 

 similar detached line obliquely out from the centre of the web 

 in a plane other than that in which the " wheel " itself lies. In 

 such cases the solitary line leads to a hiding-place near by among 

 the foliage, etc., and here the spider rests, keeping, however, at 

 least one foot in contact with the one thread. 



The eggs of E. diademata are produced in the autumn, and 

 placed as a flattened mass in a cocoon, which is about -J- inch 

 in diameter, yellow, and more or less spherical. 

 The young emerge in the following spring or early 

 summer, and immediately spin a maze of very fine 

 lines in the midst of which they cluster together, 

 FIG. 29. Egg co- f orm i n g a golden-brown ball suspended in mid- 

 spider a * r - -^ touched or alarmed the several hundred 

 minute spiders scatter themselves in all directions 

 along the mazy lines, and the ball melts away into space, only 

 to form again when the cause of alarm has passed away. The 

 methods of disposal of the eggs adopted by spiders are very 

 many ; some form graceful bell-shaped cocoons and leave them 

 attached to the stems of grasses and other plants ; others bedaub 

 their cocoons with mud, while many carry the cocoon about with 

 them attached to the ventral side of the abdomen, and some 

 exhibit considerable affection for their young until they are old 

 enough to shift for themselves. 



Gossamer. The young spiders of many species get carried 

 away and dispersed over wide areas by a remarkable method of 

 travel. Standing, so to speak, on tiptoe, the little spider elevates 

 the tip of the abdomen and spins out into the air a thread of 

 silk, which floats upwards and is drawn out by the breeze. When 

 the thread is sufficiently long the spider gives a slight jump into 

 the air, and is launched forth on an aerial voyage sustained by 

 the parachute thread. For the starting-point the top of post, 

 rail, wall, or some moderately elevated object is selected. These 

 floating threads and their little burdens sooner or later come to 



