A RACE OF TELEGRAPHERS 11 
and the sheet-webs of our fields and lawns, to 
circles, orbs, platforms, funnels, purses, triangles, 
tubes, wondrous filmy domes, lamp shades, and 
what note 
“ A common spider here in the South is known 
as the bowl and doily spider. This little animal 
—by the way, perhaps you think spiders should 
be called insects? If so, you are wrong. All in¬ 
sects have six legs; spiders have eight. Also, an 
insect’s body is divided into three parts—head, 
thorax, and abdomen—while the spider’s body 
has but two. True they look so much like in¬ 
sects and have so many of their ways that most 
people do call them insects. Nevertheless, they 
are animals. And, as I was about to state, among 
them are none that build a more ingenious trap 
than the bowl and doily spider. The central fea¬ 
ture of the web is a well-formed finger-bowl, on * 
the lower center of which the spider usually rests. 
Below her is stretched a broad sheet or ‘ doily,’ 
which protects her from enemies which might at¬ 
tack her from below. Several inches above the 
bowl is a maze of entangling threads for the dy¬ 
ing insects. The web is usually built in a low 
bush, sometimes on the lower branches not far 
from the ground. It is carefully held in place 
by guy ropes to surrounding twigs, and will with¬ 
stand the dercest gales.” 
“ I’ll bet I know where there’s a bowl and doily 
