STRUCTURE OF THE WEB. 465 



the whole apparent. The arrangement of the legs of 

 the species, an Araneus cancriformis as Sloane de- 

 scribes it, differs from that of the generality of spiders. 

 They are set upon the corslet in double pairs, the 

 doublets close together, two pairs before and two 

 behind ; the two forelegs of equal length, but the two 

 hind ones slightly unequal. In the ordinary position 

 of the Spider, when in a state of watchful repose in 

 the centre of his web, the four double legs, represent- 

 ing the cross usually called St. Andrew's Cross, are ex- 

 tended out so as exactly to cover the zig-zag lacings, 

 that form precisely a similar cross. The anomalous 

 structure of the Spider's legs, in the mere necessities 

 of wear and tear, rendered requisite this thickening 

 of the web in the spots where the legs rested, and the 

 whole economy indicated a relation of fitness, useful- 

 ness, and consistency, very special in character. 



** All the web, except about some half inch of the 

 centre, was composed of the usual radiated lines wdth 

 concentric intersections. The centre was a sort of off- 

 set disk of irregular meshes, to avoid the crowding 

 together of the radiations before they converge to a 

 point. Immediately beyond this disk, stretching 

 through about an inch of the rays, the zig-zag lacings 

 were extended, and so overlaid as to make up a mass of 

 thickened tissue, about twenty or thirty times the 

 thickness of single threads, or of the warp and woof 

 of other portions of the web. 



" By some accident the web I first noticed got de- 

 stroyed ; but, in the course of a single day, I found 

 the Spider had rebuilt the web in the same hedge 

 some ten yards further away ; and though the new 



