FOOD OF INSECTS. 4-11 



usually fixed in a perpendicular or somewhat oblique di- 

 rection, in an opening between the leaves of some shrub 

 or plant, it is obvious that round its whole extent will 

 be required lines to which can be attached those ends of 

 the radii that are furthest from the centre. Accordingly 

 the construction of these exterior lines is the spider's first 

 operation. She seems careless about the shape of the 

 area which they inclose, well aware that she can as 

 readily inscribe a circle in a triangle as in a square, and 

 in this respect she is guided by the distance or proximity 

 of the points to which she can attach them. She spares 

 no pains, however, to strengthen and keep them in a 

 proper degree of tension. With the former view she 

 composes each line of five or six or even more threads 

 glued together ; and with the latter she fixes to them 

 from different points a numerous and intricate apparatus 

 of smaller threads. Having thus completed the founda- 

 tions of her snare a , she proceeds to fill up the outline. 

 Attaching a thread to one of the main lines, she walks 

 along it, guiding it with one of her hind feet that it may 

 not touch in any part and be prematurely glued, and 

 crosses over to the opposite side, where by applying her 

 spinners she firmly fixes it. To the middle of this dia- 

 gonal thread, which is to form the centre of her net, 

 she fixes a second, which in like manner she conveys 

 and fastens to another part of the lines encircling the 

 area. Her work now proceeds rapidly. During the 

 preliminary operations she sometimes rests, as though 



* I am not certain whether the garden spicier does not more fre- 

 quently form one or two of the principal radii of the net, before 

 she spins the exterior lines. 



