188 PAPER. 



always associated with the calamistrum and cribellum," as we 

 remarked above. 



Now that the fact has been shown that the tarsal-comb will 

 produce such silk, it would have been possible that Theridiosoma 

 might have done so by the same means, but for the fact that I am 

 unable to detect anything like a tarsal-comb, such as has been 

 described above. This genus has hitherto been included by 

 M. Simon, as well as by its founder, the Rev. O. Pickard 

 Cambridge. F.R.S., in the family Theridionidce \ but doubtless, in 

 consideration of the forni of snare, it will in future be placed 

 amongst the EpeiridcB^ where it would have been placed no doubt 

 at once by the founder of the genus, who was well aware of its 

 close affinities with those spiders, had there been any opportunity 

 of observing the habits and confirming the observations made by 

 Dr. McCook in the case of the American spider of this genus. 



Paper. — One of the best-utilised waste products in Australia 

 is said to be the husks of Indian corn. These are boiled with an 

 alkali in tubular boilers. The. glutinous matter is pressed out from 

 the fibre by hydraulic apparatus, leaving the fibres in the shape of 

 a mass or chain of longitudinal threads, interspersed with a mass 

 of short fibres. The paper for which mostly the short fibres are 

 used — the long fibres constituting the material for spinning — is 

 stronger than paper of the same weight made from linen or cotton 

 rags, its hardness and firmness of grain exceeding that of the best- 

 dipped English drawmg-papers, being specially adapted for pencil- 

 drawing, stenographic writing, and water colours. Its durability, 

 it is claimed, exceeds that of paper made from any other material, 

 and the corn-husk paper is not destroyed by insects at exposed 

 points. If the gluten is left in the pulp, the paper can be made 

 extremely transparent. Again, the fibre is easily worked, either 

 alone or in combination with rags, into the finest writing or 

 printing papers ; it also takes readily any tint or colour, and can 

 be worked almost to as much advantage into stout wrapping-paper 

 of superior quality as into fine note and envelope paper. 



