1 86 LIFE AND HER CHILDREN. 
floats in the evening air, and by and by the end 
catches on some bush, let us say at the point d. 
Instantly the spider feels the pull, and fastening the 
end out of her own body to the sticky lump c, she 
runs along the line c d, strengthening it with silk as 
she goes. That line being firm she can use it as her 
tight-rope, and running from bush to bush may either 
let fresh threads float, or carry them with her from 
point to point till she has made a square or triangle 
of threads (c, d, e, f), anchored here and there to 
the leaves and stems. And now she must make 
the cross lines, so going to the middle (a) of the 
highest line she drops down, and swinging to and fro 
catches the lower line and stretches a vertical 
cord (a 8). 
Then she is ready to begin the web. Up to this 
time she has been obliged to work slowly and with 
many difficulties, but from this moment the work 
goes on apace. Running to the middle of the line 
a b she fixes her thread there and then goes on to 
the other side, carrying the line with her and keeping 
it carefully with her feet from clinging to the one on 
which she runs. Arrived at the stretched line she 
fastens this loose thread to it at I, and so makes one 
of the spokes of the wheel. Then moving a little 
farther along she fixes another end at 2, and running 
back to the centre forms another spoke ; and so on 
through 3, 4, etc., till all the spokes are made. 
Then she goes back to the middle, and walking care- 
fully round and round the spokes lays down a 
winding thread from the centre to the outside, fixing 
it to each of the spokes by a minute drop of gum. 
At first this thread is dry and hard, but when the 
