HOUSE AND GARDEN 
March, 1912 
himself to reach a point of vantage where he affixes a thread and 
reascending carries it up his vertical ladder and running to the 
center again attaches it, until all the radii are constructed from 
this central point and tacked on to foundation lines or tied to 
projections on stalk or grass blade. 
The work is that of a clever artisan understanding the need of 
counterbalancing sti'ain in one direction by cords placed in oppo¬ 
sition. If the numbers on a watch may be imagined to represent 
the ends of the radii, for purposes of illustration we may say that 
instead of running the threads from the center point to the figure 
one, and then to two and then to three, and so on around the dial 
face, the spider will put in the scaffold threads from one and two, 
and then going back to the ground line (from twelve to six) will 
jerk the threads and appear to test them. The next radii will be 
those to figures seven and eight of the watch. So the animal pro¬ 
ceeds, testing the strain on cords, tightening here and reinforcing 
there, always placing a thread where human intelligence would 
judge it to be most advantageous. When all the lines I'adiating 
from the center have been satisfactorily finished, the spider pro¬ 
ceeding from the center spins a spiral that crosses the rays. He 
generally makes a center part or hub somewhat more closely 
woven, and then leaving a free space commences weaving the 
spiral until the outer edge is reached. This first spiral serves 
as the scaffold for the completed web, for now the spider may be 
noticed weaving cross threads of a different material. These are 
the sticky coated webs that ensnare the insects. The threads are 
tacked down as were the others, but the spider seems to stretch 
them in fastening and when they are released they show globules 
of liquid. This is one of the causes of the beautiful glisten one 
sees on webs. If we examine them with a glass there will be 
seen a regularity of arrangement of the tiny beads that is not 
unlike a necklace of pearls strung in alternating sizes. As this 
sticky web is spun out behind the spider, he bites away tbe origi¬ 
nal scaffolding and leaves the orb entirely coated with this viscid 
liquid except at the hub, where he seats himself awaiting prey. 
This course of construction eliminates the danger of the spider's 
entangling his own nest. Most webs are built after this fashion, 
but though they vary in size or shape they all display the same 
skill in engineering, the same mathematical appreciation of off¬ 
setting stress by putting a line 
almost at the very point our for¬ 
mer instructors would have dem¬ 
onstrated by parallelograms of 
forces to be the logical place. 
Although I have spoken of the 
foundation lines spun out on the 
air and entangled with an oppo¬ 
site object, as the general pro¬ 
cedure of orb weavers, they some¬ 
times do carry their line in one of 
the claws, walk over to the desired 
locality and when the right point 
is reached, reel in the slack with 
their jaws and make it fast. This 
is not so common, or to my mind 
so interesting as the sublime con¬ 
fidence with which the spider 
launches its delicate thread in the 
air and waits, trusting that it will 
reach the desired place. Spiders 
will sometimes spin themselves a 
basket and lowering themselves to 
a position of strategic importance, 
let a line float out in the breeze. 
If it catches in the right place, 
they swing off upon it. Jonathan 
{Continued on page 75) 
An orb web hung from a suspension line. Every time an insect is caught 
in the web it means that the spider must start at once and repair the 
destruction which always occurs 
When dew covers the sticky threads the web looks like a large diamond sunburst flashing in the sun 
