110 EIGHT- LEGGED FRIENDS, 



accident or the gardener, we had plenty of chances for 

 seeing how they proceeded in making them. The hues 

 were in both cases stretched between a white rose-bush 

 that cHmbed up one side of the window, and a purple 

 clematis that occupied and draped the opposite mullion. 

 But Lucy and Eliza didn't live in the webs — those were 

 only their snares or traps for prey ; each of them had in 

 addition a private home or apartment of her own under 

 shelter of a rose-leaf at some distance from the treacherous 

 geometrical structure. The house itself consisted merely 

 of a silken cell, built out from the rose-leaf, and connected 

 with the snare by a single stout cord of very solid con- 

 struction. On this cord the spider kept one foot — I had 

 almost said one hand — constantly fixed. She poised it 

 lightly by her claws, and whenever an insect got entangled 

 in the web, a subtle electric message, so to speak, seemed 

 to run along the line to the ever-watchful carnivore. In 

 one short second Lucy or E'lza, as the case might be, had 

 darted out upon her quarr ', and was tackling it might 

 main, according to the part'' jular way its size and strength 

 rendered then and there advisable. The method of 

 procedure, which I shall describe more fully by-and-by, 

 differed considerably from case to case, as these very 

 large and strong spiders have sometimes to deal with 

 mere tiny midges, and sometimes with extremely big and 

 dangerous creatures, like bumble-bees, wasps, and even 

 hornets. 



In building their webs, as in many other small points, 

 Lucy and Eliza showed from the first no inconsiderable 

 personal differences. Lucy began hers by spinning a 

 long line from her spinnerets, and letting the wind carry 



