Out in the garden where the western sun flooded the nasturtiums along
the garden wall, a large yellow and black-bodied spider made his lair.
The driving rain of the night before had so torn and disarranged his
web that he had set about building himself a new one lower down.
Already he had spun and placed the spokes or bars of his gigantic web
and was now making the circles to complete his geometric diagram.
From his tail he exuded a white, sticky substance, which, when
stretched, instantly became dry. As he stepped from one spoke to
another he would spin out his web and, stretching the spoke towards
the preceding one, bring the fresh-spun web in contact with it and
then exude upon the jointure an atom of fresh web, which immediately
cemented the two parts, when the spoke settled back into place,
pulling the cross web straight and taut. The process of house-building
continued uninterruptedly, every movement of the spider producing some
result. No useless steps were taken, and as the work progressed the
uniformity of the work was simply amazing; every square, every cross
piece, was placed exactly in the same relative position as to distance,
etc. A micrometer seemingly would not have shown the deviation of
.000001 of an inch between any two of the squares.
When the web was three-fourths finished a lusty grasshopper went
blundering up against one of the yet uncovered spokes of the web and
escaped. The spider noticed this and visibly increased his efforts and
sped from spoke to spoke, trailing his never ending film of silky web
behind him. At last the trap was set and, hastening to the center, he
quickly covered the point with web after web, until he had a smooth,
solid floor with an opening that allowed the tenant to occupy either
side of the house at will. The spot was well selected, the hoppers in
the heat of the day finding the heavy shade of the broad nasturtium
leaves particularly grateful.
Our friend the spider had not long to wait for his breakfast, for
presto!--a great, brown-winged hopper flew right into the net. Before
he could, with his strong wings and powerful legs, tear the silken
gossamer asunder and free himself, like lightning our spider was upon
him. In the flash of an eye the grasshopper was actually enshrouded in
a sheet of white film of web, and with the utmost rapidity was rolled
over and over by the spider, which used its long legs with the utmost
dexterity. Wound in his graveyard suit of white silk, the grasshopper
became absolutely helpless. His broad wings and sinewy legs were now
useless. The spider retreated to the center of the web and watched the
throes of his prey. By much effort the hopper loosed one leg and was
bidding fair to kick the net to shreds when the spider made another
sally and, putting a fresh coating of sticky web around him, rolled him
over once or twice more and left him.
In a few moments, when all was over, the spider attacked his prey and
began his breakfast. Before his meal was well under way, a second
hopper flew into the parlor of the spider and, leaving his meal, the
agile creature soon had hopper number two securely and safely ensnared.
No experienced football tackle ever downed his opponent with any such
skill or celerity as the spider displayed as he rolled over and bundled
up into a helpless web-covered roll the foolish and careless hopper.
"The spiders touch, how exquisitely fine!
Feels at each thread, and lives along the line."
[Illustration: BLUE WINGED TEAL.
1/2 Life-size.
FROM COL. F. NUSSBAUMER & SON.
A. W. MUMFORD. PUBLISHER, CHICAGO.
COPYRIGHT 1900, BY
NATURE STUDY PUB. CO., CHICAGO.]