no doubt
intended to be restored to the silken treasury. It is a tough mouthful,
difficult for the stomach to elaborate; still, it is precious and must
not be lost. The work finishes with the swallowing. Then and there, the
Spider instals herself, head downwards, at her hunting-post in the centre
of the web.

The operation which we have just seen gives rise to a reflection. Men
are born right-handed. Thanks to a lack of symmetry that has never been
explained, our right side is stronger and readier in its movements than
our left. The inequality is especially noticeable in the two hands. Our
language expresses this supremacy of the favoured side in the terms
dexterity, adroitness and address, all of which allude to the right hand.

Is the animal, on its side, right-handed, left-handed, or unbiased? We
have had opportunities of showing that the Cricket, the Grasshopper and
many others draw their bow, which is on the right wing-case, over the
sounding apparatus, which is on the left wing-case. They are
right-handed.

When you and I take an unpremeditated turn, we spin round on our right
heel. The left side, the weaker, moves on the pivot of the right, the
stronger. In the same way, nearly all the Molluscs that have spiral
shells roll their coils from left to right. Among the numerous species
in both land and water fauna, only a very few are exceptional and turn
from right to left.

It would be interesting to try and work out to what extent that part of
the zoological kingdom which boasts a two-sided structure is divided into
right-handed and left-handed animals. Can dissymetry, that source of
contrasts, be a general rule? Or are there neutrals, endowed with equal
powers of skill and energy on both sides? Yes, there are; and the Spider
is one of them. She enjoys the very enviable privilege of possessing a
left side which is no less capable than the right. She is ambidextrous,
as witness the following observations.

When laying her snaring-thread, every Epeira turns in either direction
indifferently, as a close watch will prove. Reasons whose secret escapes
us determine the direction adopted. Once this or the other course is
taken, the spinstress does not change it, even after incidents that
sometimes occur to disturb the progress of the work. It may happen that
a Gnat gets caught in the part already woven. The Spider thereupon
abruptly interrupts her labours, hastens up to the prey, binds it and
th