The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-11-24

As the webs which my spiders. Lucy
and Eliza, says writer IN Eongmans s.
Magazine, spun were serc--d times
broken or mutilated durrg the year.
either by accident or the garf.ner. We
had plenty of chances for seeing how
they proceeded In making tenn The
lines were In both cases stitched be-
tween . white rosebush that climbed
up one side Of the window uad purple
clematfs that occupied and draped the
Opposite mullien. But lucy and Eliza
didn't live IN the web-shose were only
their snares or traps for prey; each OF
them had IN addisioa private home az
apartment of her OWN under shelter OF
roaeleaf at some distance from thc
treaeiierous gconetricai structure. The
house itself consisted merely Of siiken
cell, cut out from the roseicaf and con-
nectcyt with the snare by si1-'c s.ont
cord Of very solid construction On this
cord the spider kept one foot hat, al
nest said one hand-constantl fixed
She poised it lightly by its claws, and
whenever an insect got entangled in
the web subtle electric message. SO to
speak, seemed to run along the line to
the ever-watchful carnivere. In one
short second Lucy or Eliza, as the case
might be, had dar.ed cut upon her
uarry and was tackliry it might and
main, according to the particular way
its size and strength rendered then and
there advisable.
In building their webs, as in many
other small points, Lucy and Eliza
showed from the first no inconsiderabie
personal differences Lucy began hers
by spinning long Line from her spin
nerets and letting the wind carry it
wherever 1t would, while Eliza. moro
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 to ten stout threads from place to
place on the outside of the future web,
TO act as points d'appui for the remain
der of the structure. To these outer
threads, which the spiders strength
ened SO az to bear q considerable strain
by dou bling and treblipg them, other
thinner single threads were then car
ried radially 1T irregular distances, like
the spolses OF wheel, from a poin, in
the center, where they were all made
fast and connected together.
As soon as this radiating framework
or scaffolding was finished, like the
woof on loom. the Industrious crafts
woman started in the middle and began
the task Of putting in the cross pieces
or welt, which were to complete and
bind together the circular pattern.
These she wove round and round in .
continuous spiral, setting ont at the CEN
ter and keeping on in overwhelming
circle, till she arrived at last at the ex-
terror or foundation threads. How she
fastened these crosspieces to the ray
lines could never quite make out.
though / often followed the work close
~ from inside through the pane of glass
with platyscopic lens; for, strange to
say, the spiders were not in the least
distur bed by being watched at their
work, and never took tho Alightest no
tice Of anything that went on at tho
other side OF the window Ny impress
sion is, however, that she gummed
them together. letting them harden
into one as they dried, for the thread
itself is always semi-liquid when first
exuded