r in the net. It
is here, again, that she takes her meals, often long-drawn-out, when the
joint is a substantial one; it is hither that, after trussing and
nibbling it, she drags her prey at the end of a thread, to consume it at
her ease on a non-viscous mat. As a hunting-post and refectory, the
Epeira has contrived a central space, free from glue.

As for the glue itself, it is hardly possible to study its chemical
properties, because the quantity is so slight. The microscope shows it
trickling from the broken threads in the form of a transparent and more
or less granular streak. The following experiment will tell us more
about it.

With a sheet of glass passed across the web, I gather a series of lime-
threads which remain fixed in parallel lines. I cover this sheet with a
bell-jar standing in a depth of water. Soon, in this atmosphere
saturated with humidity, the threads become enveloped in a watery sheath,
which gradually increases and begins to flow. The twisted shape has by
this time disappeared; and the channel of the thread reveals a chaplet of
translucent orbs, that is to say, a series of extremely fine drops.

In twenty-four hours, the threads have lost their contents and are
reduced to almost invisible streaks. If I then lay a drop of water on
the glass, I get a sticky solution, similar to that which a particle of
gum arabic might yield. The conclusion is evident: the Epeira's glue is
a substance that absorbs moisture freely. In an atmosphere with a high
degree of humidity, it becomes saturated and percolates by sweating
through the side of the tubular threads.

These data explain certain facts relating to the work of the net. The
full-grown Banded and Silky Epeirae weave at very early hours, long
before dawn. Should the air turn misty, they sometimes leave that part
of the task unfinished: they build the general framework, they lay the
spokes, they even draw the auxiliary spiral, for all these parts are
unaffected by excess of moisture; but they are very careful not to work
at the lime-threads, which, if soaked by the fog, would dissolve into
sticky shreds and lose their efficacy by being wetted. The net that was
started will be finished to-morrow, if the atmosphere be favourable.

While the highly-absorbent character of the snaring-thread has its
drawbacks, it also has compensating advantages. Both Epeirae, when
hunting by day, affect those hot places, exposed to the fierce rays of
the su