A Bkast of Prky 69 



not he i^ninj^ too far to say that the j^eoint'trical 

 wch-iiiakcrs arc the most advanced and eivihsed 

 inembers of tiie entire j^roiip. For there are 

 dej^rees of evohitioii ainonj^ these hiintiii}^ car- 

 nivores. Some of the least advanced kinds merely 

 stalk or hunt down their prev on the oju-n. Tiiese 

 U)\ver savaj^es amon^ the spider tribe hn k under 

 stones or in the crevices of bark, and rush out at 

 their victims, or sprin<4 upon them unawares. One 

 may compare them to such low huntinj^ human 

 races as the natives of New (iuinea or tiie North 

 American Indians. Others, attain, construct tubes, 

 with or without trap-doors, and catch their prey 

 more or less cutminifly near the entrance. Yet 

 others, once more, weave irrej^ular webs, amonj^ 

 leaves and twij^s, or in the corners of rooms, and 

 trust rather to mere meshes than to sticky sub- 

 stances. Hut the "geometrical web-weavers, the 

 most advanced of their kind, have learned by the 

 experience of aj^es how to construct a regular 

 snare, on a fixed j»round-plan, and to supplement 

 it by a sinifular trick of beady bird-lime. 



Even amonj^ the j^eometrical web-weavers them- 

 selves, a^ain, there are marked varieties of progress 

 and culture. For some kinds have only three 

 claws to each foot, while others have more ; and 

 there are certain species which possess in addition 

 a sort of opposable thumb, ^o that thev can catch 

 things as with a hand, leelinj^ them all round, 

 and _<4raspin<4 their threads as a sailor ^lasps a 

 cable. Such opposable thumbs are always accom- 

 panied by hii^h intellij^eiice, as one sees in man, 



