68 
NATURE’S CRAFTSMEN 
vanced to put the finishing touches. Quickly she 
thrust her poisoned fangs in here and there, and 
then, after another interval, began quietly to 
“ bleed ” the corpse. This done, she was evi¬ 
dently quite satisfied for the moment; she would 
eat the meat at her leisure, and she proceeded to 
cut the meshes until the grasshopper hung to the 
web by its ropes, like a beef hung up to cool. 
“ If she has good luck in taking fresh catches,” 
Uncle John informed, “ she will never touch the 
grasshopper again. But instinct warns her to 
keep the carcass as a precautionary measure. I 
have been told that the good housekeepers among 
the spiders go over their webs each morning, cut¬ 
ting down all meat that is not perfectly fresh, and 
carefully mending the rents made in the trap.” 
Now that their attention had been called to the 
matter, the children noted other shrouded masses 
of various size hanging here and there about the 
web, and Tommy’s quick eyes soon spied a small 
spider apparently feeding upon one of these 
forms. “ Look,” he exclaimed, pointing it out 
excitedly, “ there is one of the lady’s children! ” 
“ Not at all,” averred Uncle John. “ It never 
does to jump to conclusions, my hoy. That 
spider is eveiy whit as old as my lady. She is a 
guest in the household, a pensioner on the banded 
spider’s bounty. A commensal spider she is 
called. That odd little vase-shaped sac just 
