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THi; POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



colored Epe'ira liiiida lives in similar luxury under the roofs of 

 the Malagasy houses of the province of Imerina. 



Leaving the grand epeiras, we may find, among vegetation and 

 on walls, spiders whose weak proportions suggest their classifica- 



FiG. ll.—NephUa Chrysogaxter* Male and Female (one half natural size). 



* This spider, whose name translated is the golden-bellied Nephila, has been described 

 in " La Nature," by M. Maurice Maindron, from his observations of it in Java, the Moluccas, 

 and New Guinea. Its nests are quite numerous in Java, and occupied several metres in the 

 forests. They are constructed at an elevation above the ground corresponding with the 

 height of a man's head, and are frequently annoying to persons passing through the wood. 

 M. Maindron found the threads strong enough to pull off his salacko, or cork helmet, when- 

 ever it became entangled in them, and hold it suspended in their meshes. It is not unusual 

 for the casual intruder into the nest to carry off the spider on his face, where the animal 

 makes itself perfectly at home, and will promenade at its leisure over your face, shoulders, 

 and arms, and will walk quietly the length of your body, in no seeming hurry to get away. 

 — Editor. 



