THE SNARE- WE A VERS. \ 87 
spider is at a short distance from the centre she 
changes her material and gives out a beautiful fine 
thread, spangled at every point with minute drops of 
gum, which will not harden in the air ;* so that by 
the time she has reached the end of the spokes she 
has left behind her a glorious spangled web, closely 
woven and wonderfully elastic, because the drops of 
gum yield gently as the web sways, while they are 
so sticky that no insect flying against the web is 
likely to get away again. 
In this manner, in about three-quarters of an 
hour, the nimble little spider has woven a snare 
measuring perhaps half a yard across and spangled 
with more than a hundred thousand gum-drops, and 
there is yet time for some of the late flies to be 
caught before night comes on. She has left the 
middle of the web with its dry scaffolding thread, 
because it is there that she hangs head downwards 
waiting for her prey. Sometimes, however, she will 
prefer hiding herself under some leaves in a bush, 
and then she will carry with her a strong thread (g) 
attached to the middle of the web to give her warning 
of any disturbance. And now a good-sized fly comes 
buzzing along, and running its body against the web 
gives it a shake. Instantly 
*' The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine, 
Feels at each thread and lives along the line," 
and almost before you can see her, she has darted 
* Mr. Emerton, an American naturalist, who has watched the 
Epeira at work there, states that she lays down first a dry scaffolding 
from the centre to the circumference, and then working back again, 
destroys this hard thread as she lays down the spangled one. Mr. A. 
Butler and Mr. Lowne, however, both assure me that they have often 
seen the English garden-spider spin her web, and that she invariably 
lays down the gummy thread at once. 
