340 
THE STRAND MAGAZINE . 
Fig. 3. — In a fraction of a second, with a 
tiger-like spring and certain aim, it has 
pounced on to its quarry. clearing in its jump 
a distance of a little over three inches. 
Fig. 4. - The fly completely taken by 
surprise, violently struggles to escape, and, 
for a moment, the battle wages fierce. Its 
struggles are briefly terminated, for its limbs 
are promptly entangled in a silken line, and 
the spider’s poison-fangs are then instantly 
applied. 
Fig. 5.— The spider leaving the hapless 
fly, its appetite appeased. 
a distance of twenty-four yards, and that on 
a perpendicular surface ! 
For a moment the struggle is a desperate 
one indeed (Fig. 4), and the spider has more 
than enough to do to get its victim under 
control : for, although its capture is but a 
diminutive insect of the house-fly group, vet 
it is quite a large venture for this little spider 
(which more often attacks small gnats and 
midges), and one which well illustrates its 
boldness and daring as a fearless hunter. 
The struggle, however, is brief, for the 
limbs of the fly have become entangled 
with a silken cord rapidly and dexterously 
twisted about them by the spider during 
the attack. Also the fly almost immedi- 
ately ceases to struggle when entangled, for 
the spider’s deadly poison- 
fangs are then promptly 
applied. 
Sometimes, when making 
an attack on such large prey, 
the hunter's tactics do not 
prove so successful. An un- 
timely movement of the fly 
may cause the spider to alight 
upon it with an unsteady foot- 
hold. Then fly and spider 
may fall headlong down the 
wall — but only for a yard or 
thereabouts. Before making 
its spring the hunter care- 
fully attaches a silken cable 
to the spot, and its weight, 
together with that of the fly, may draw 
more of this cable from the spider’s silk- I 
gland, but should the wall be touched I 
during the fall, and the spider gain another " 
hold, the capture may even then be success- II 
fully effected, although it may be a yard 
from the spot where the prey was pounced 
upon. The cable, too, also saves its owner 
from a fall should its aim entirely miss the 
prey. Furthermore, it is also an effective 
means by which it can suddenly vanish from 
the eyes of its foes — a point to which I have 
previously referred — for, if alarmed, it has 
but to perform one of its rapid leaps from 
its point of attachment and let out its 
cable, and an instant later it is several 
feet lower down the wall. 
In Fig. 5 the spider is seen 
leaving its victim, for the meal 
was more than enough. It is 
seen that it is now attached 1 
to the wall (Fig. 6), but 
whether it was so fixed for a 
further visit should fresh prey 
prove scarce, or whether the 
attaching lines were simply 
those used in the initial cap- 
ture, is a difficult point to 
decide. It is even capable of 
performing the hunting 
manoeuvres here described 
on the smooth glass of an 
ordinary window, as the 
writer himself has witnessed. 
Fig. 6. — When left. however, it is firmly 
attached to the wall— probably for a return 
visit should fresh prey not be forthcoming. 
