Growing, Breathing, and Other Things 
The Spinners that do not make a 
wheel-house select a crack, or crevice 
where they may hide and cast their 
skin, or moult, out of reach of prying 
eyes. The Jumpers, after their usual 
fashion when something special is to 
be done, build their small silk-walled 
rooms, in which they creep out of their 
old gowns. ‘The orb-weavers are not 
so particular about getting out of 
sight. Whenever one of these feels 
the need of a new suit she drops from 
her web and hangs head downward 
by a short thread fastened to her 
spinnerets. For a few minutes she 
dangles there, looking exceedingly un- 
comfortable, then the skin of the 
cephalo-thorax begins to split all the 
way around close to the first joints of 
the legs. 
When this is done she pokes her 
head through the rent, at the same 
time pushing the skin backward. Now 
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