The Filmy Dome

Teacher’s Story

IKE bubbles cut in half, these delicate domes catch the light rays and separate them like a prism into waves of rainbow colors. One of these domes is usually about the size of an ordinary bowl, and is suspended with the opening on the lower side. It is held in place by many guy-lines which attach it to surrounding objects. Above a filmy dome are always stretched many crisscrossed threads for some distance up. These are for the purpose of hindering the flight of insects, so that they will fall into the web. The little spider, which always hangs, back downward, just below the center of the dome, rushes to its prey from the lower side, pulls it through the meshes of the web, and feeds upon it. But any remains of the insect or pieces of sticks or leaves which may drop upon the web, it carefully cuts out and drops to the ground, mending the hole very neatly.