382 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



harden when it comes in contact with the air. Days after it has 

 been deposited, it remains just as sticky as ever. It is to these 

 httle glutinous drops that an insect adheres when it flies against 

 the net. 



The number of these sticky drops in a single web is almost 

 incredible. A careful observer, who has paid much attention to the 



subject, tells us that in every 

 inch of the spiral thread are 

 no fewer than two hundred 

 globules. Now, in an ordinary 

 web of the common garden 

 spider, the spiral thread upon 

 an average is thirty-six feet 



Spider's Vi^eb with drops of sticky matter ^'^ length. And SO, by a 



simple calculation, we find 

 that in that single web there must be very nearly eighty-seven 

 thousand of the tiny drops of gum! 



The spider itself can run about over its web without becoming 

 entangled in it, while an insect which once touches it seldom suc- 

 ceeds in breaking away. 



This is not altogether due, however, to the globules of sticky 

 fluid; for the silken threads themselves are highly elastic, so that 

 they yield as the insect struggles, and do not break. 



When a large insect is captured, the spider never allows it 

 to struggle for long, for it knows by instinct that its victim may 

 break away or damage the net. So, no sooner does a large insect 

 fly against the net and begin to struggle, than it runs quickly to 

 the spot and seizes the prisoner. 



If it is a wasp or a bee it does not attempt to touch it, but cuts 

 three or four of the threads which hold it, and allows it to escape. 

 As soon as the prisoner has flown away, the spider carefully repairs 

 the damage, and then retires to its hiding-place to wait for another 

 victim. 



Should the captive, however, be destitute of offensive weapons, 

 the spider seizes it with its long legs, places the spinnerets for a 

 moment against its body, and then begins to turn it rapidly round 

 and round. As it does so it pours out silk, which now issues from 



