Page 36 - The Miracle in the Spider

36 THE MIRACLE IN THE SPIDER

(We shall ignore such questions as how Dinopis first came to be, and how
it produced the chemicals necessary for its web inside its body, taking
them as given). In this case the following questions need to be answered:
If the first web was spun by chance, how did the second and third webs
come to be spun? How did the spider manage to reproduce exactly the
same web, which it had spun by chance? How did a newly-born spider
know how to spin a web like lace, to spin a web with qualities different
from those of others, and that it would have to throw the web over its
prey?
There is only one answer to these questions. The spider, incapable of
learning, or learning by heart, and lacking even a brain sufficiently
developed to do these things, was endowed with these things by God, the

omnipotent Creator of all living things.

The Portia Spider: A Master of Deception
In contrast to most other spiders, Portia Fimbriata both builds a web
and hunts away from its own web. Another feature of Portia is that it
prefers members of its own species over insects as food. For this reason
Portia's field of activity is generally other spiders' webs. It uses a
fascinating stratagem when hunting.
Generally, Portia will land on a web while the wind is blowing or
while an insect is struggling to free itself. Such strong vibrations mask the
shaking caused by a Portia on the prowl. To look at, it resembles a scrap
of vegetation blown into a web by the wind. Unlike other spiders, which
jump excitedly on to their prey when they see it, Portia moves slowly.
Once it is installed on the web, it manipulates, plucks and slaps the web

silk with its legs, mimicking a trapped insect. When the owner of the web
approaches, Portia is ready and waiting in ambush. 8
Portia spiders deceive members of their own species by imitating
them. For example, Portia mimics the mating ritual of the Euryattus spider,
which lives in a rolled-up leaf suspended by silk cables. Sitting atop a
female spider's home, Portia rocks the leaf, dancing atop it like a Euryattus