Spider disappears in it
entirely, all but her rounded hind-quarters, which bar the entrance to
the donjon.

With her front half plunged into the back of her hut, the Epeira
certainly cannot see her web. Even if she had good sight, instead of
being purblind, her position could not possibly allow her to keep the
prey in view. Does she give up hunting during this period, of bright
sunlight? Not at all. Look again.

Wonderful! One of her hind-legs is stretched outside the leafy cabin;
and the signalling-thread ends just at the tip of that leg. Whoso has
not seen the Epeira in this attitude, with her hand, so to speak, on the
telegraph-receiver, knows nothing of one of the most curious instances of
animal cleverness. Let any game appear upon the scene; and the
slumberer, forthwith aroused by means of the leg receiving the
vibrations, hastens up. A Locust whom I myself lay on the web procures
her this agreeable shock and what follows. If she is satisfied with her
bag, I am still more satisfied with what I have learnt.

The occasion is too good not to find out, under better conditions as
regards approach, what the inhabitant of the cypress-trees has already
shown me. The next morning, I cut the telegraph-wire, this time as long
as one's arm and held, like yesterday, by one of the hind-legs stretched
outside the cabin. I then place on the web a double prey, a Dragon-fly
and a Locust. The latter kicks out with his long, spurred shanks; the
other flutters her wings. The web is tossed about to such an extent that
a number of leaves, just beside the Epeira's nest, move, shaken by the
threads of the framework affixed to them.

And this vibration, though so close at hand, does not rouse the Spider in
the least, does not make her even turn round to enquire what is going on.
The moment that her signalling-thread ceases to work, she knows nothing
of passing events. All day long, she remains without stirring. In the
evening, at eight o'clock, she sallies forth to weave the new web and at
last finds the rich windfall whereof she was hitherto unaware.

One word more. The web is often shaken by the wind. The different parts
of the framework, tossed and teased by the eddying air-currents, cannot
fail to transmit their vibration to the signalling-thread. Nevertheless,
the Spider does not quit her hut and remains indifferent to the commotion
prevailing in the net. Her line, therefore, is something better than a
bell-rop