er by accident or the gardener, we had
plenty of chances for seeing how they proceeded in making them. The
lines were in both cases stretched between a white rose-bush that
climbed up one side of the window, and a purple clematis that occupied
and draped the opposite mullion. But Lucy and Eliza didn't live in the
webs--those were only their snares or traps for prey; each of them had
in addition a private home or apartment of her own under shelter of a
rose-leaf at some distance from the treacherous geometrical structure.
The house itself consisted merely of a silken cell, built out from the
rose-leaf, and connected with the snare by a single stout cord of very
solid construction. On this cord the spider kept one foot--I had almost
said one hand--constantly fixed. She poised it lightly by her claws,
and whenever an insect got entangled in the web, a subtle electric
message, so to speak, seemed to run along the line to the ever-watchful
carnivore. In one short second Lucy or Eliza, as the case might be, had
darted out upon her quarry, and was tackling it might main, according
to the particular way its size and strength rendered then and there
advisable. The method of procedure, which I shall describe more fully
by-and-by, differed considerably from case to case, as these very large
and strong spiders have sometimes to deal with mere tiny midges, and
sometimes with extremely big and dangerous creatures, like bumble-bees,
wasps, and even hornets.

In building their webs, as in many other small points, Lucy and Eliza
showed from the first no inconsiderable personal differences. Lucy
began hers by spinning a long line from her spinnerets, and letting the
wind carry it wherever it would; while Eliza, more architectural in
character, preferred to take her lines personally from point to point,
and see herself to their proper fastening. In either case, however, the
first thing done was to stretch some eight or ten stout threads from
place to place on the outside of the future web, to act as _points
d'appuy_ for the remainder of the structure. To these outer threads,
which the spiders strengthened so as to bear a considerable strain by
doubling and trebling them, other thinner single threads were then
carried radially at irregular distances, like the spokes of a wheel,
from a point in the centre, where they were all made fast and connected
together. As soon as this radiating framework or scaffolding was
finished, like the woof on