COMPOSITE SNARES AND SECTOKAL ORBS. 149 



feet, Nephila clavipes. If one succeeds in pushing his way with much 

 difficuhy through the briers, his face is pretty sure to come into contact 

 with the strong tlireads of tliose spiders, whicli arc spread over the bushes 

 and V)ctwecn trees along tlie roadside. The web is perpendicular, the part 

 on which the spider sits, head downward, is geometric, but this is sur- 

 rounded on all sides by a vast array of irregular lines, the frame of which 

 consists of compound threads, stretching from the surrounding trees and 

 shrubs. Some of these threads are twelve feet long, of a yellow color, and 

 nearly as thick as sewing silk ; Mr. Gosse found them able to resist a 

 great pressure without breaking; Ijut thought it utterly improbable that 

 the rapid and powerful flight of even the most minute hummingbird could 

 be for a moment arrested by the web of this or any otlier spider.^ 



^ P. H. Gosse, " Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica, " page 240. 



