TOILET AND HOUSEKEEPING HABITS. 19 
herself back and forward across an are of four or five inches, moving her- 
self by the free legs, but always holding to the dragline by at least one foot. 
Having thus secured a position for convenient labor she seized with her 
fore feet the intruding leaf, and began removing the spiral and radial lines 
upon which it was entangled. These were pulled away by the claws and 
bitten off by the mouth. To promote this purpose the leaf was turned over 
by the fore legs, assisted by the short third pair. When one end was 
released it was carried towards the spider’s mouth, gradually passed under- 
neath the face by the 
movement of the fore 
legs, and the clinging 
parts of the viscid lines 
in the meantime were 
gnawed away from the 
undetached portions of 
the leaf. Finally the leaf 
was freed from its en- 
tanglement, and held off 
a little space from the 
body by the legs, which 
were now bunched close 
underneath the jaws. 
Then, swinging herself 
outward a little ways 
from the orb, the spider 
passed the leaf away from 
her downward, and when 
nearly freed from her 
grasp gave ita joint push 
and fling with the fore 
part of the legs which 
cast it to the ground, 
This process was re- 
peated in the case of the Fic. 6. A Shamrock spider cleanaing her snare of an entangled leaf. 
other rubbish in the web. The figure shows her in the last act. 
The long twig, which hung crosswise of the orb, caused her much 
trouble, but she got rid of it very skillfully. Cutting away all the lines 
on either side, she seized the twig and gradually pulled it beneath her face as 
she hung head downward, and so passed it underneath her body and away 
from the orb little by little. Then she poised it for a moment in a con- 
venient position, and with a quick fling cast it from her towards the 
ground, the fore legs being used for this act of expulsion. She experi- 
enced much difficulty at times with the sticky lines, and at various inter- 
vals was compelled to pause and clear her feet and legs of the viscid 
