A SPIDER’S ACTIVITIES. 95 
break easily, but stretches when struck heavily by large 
insects, and so pliable that it can be moved into any 
shape. No wonder, then, that the spider values so 
highly her magic thread, and economizes it to such an 
extent that she even eats the broken webs rather than 
have them wasted. 
The spider’s web is used in different ways by different 
members of the spider family. The trap-door spider 
- builds her cylindrical home underground, lining it with 
the most delicate silk, and fitting it with a hinged cover 
which she closes in time of danger, holding it firmly 
shut with her claws. 
The water-spider builds her dome-shaped home 
under water, arranging it like a diving-bell, and carry- 
ing to it bubbles of air from the surface (Fig. 86). 
Some spiders weave irregular, sprawling tangles of web 
to trap. their prey, while others build in accordance 
with a methodical pattern. One spider spins her web 
in such a way that it entangles in its meshes particles 
of warm air, thus forming a balloon with which to float 
in the air. The wheel-shaped web of the common 
garden-spider is a marvel of skill. To make it the 
spider first spins a thread where the wind can waft it 
to an anchorage on some distant twig, or other support. 
This line she hauls taut with her claws, and then, 
dropping and swinging, always holding a thread, she 
makes the somewhat irregular outside framework for 
her more accurate geometrical web. She then puts in 
the spokes with great care, and beginning at the 
middle, winds a spiral thread to the circumference, and 
another back to the centre. The second spiral thread 
is covered with little, sticky, transparent beads stand- 
ing side by side, ready to catch the luckless fly by 
wing, or leg, and hold him fast. A touch of the finger 
to such a thread shows the adhesive quality of the 
beads, and a look at them under the microscope reveals 
their beauty. 
Such a web is not a nest, or a house; it is a trap. 
