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RECORD OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



in Texas, and whicli has been named Epeira basilica, " her architecture 

 having suggested the dome-bearing temples of the earlier Christians of 

 the Eastern Church." 



The snare was hung about two feet from the ground, upon a bush 

 which stood in the midst of a grove of young live-oaks, and had the 

 composite structure imperfectly represented in the figure. The general 



Snare of Epeira basilica, d, dome ; c, curtain beneath ; r, retitelarian snare. 



form of the snare was that of a pyramid, the upper part of which, r, was 

 a mass of right lines knotted and looped, and crossing in all directions. 

 Within this mass was suspended an open silken dome d, constructed of 

 a vast number of radii, crossed at regular intervals by concentrics 

 after the manner of the snare of the common orb- weaving garden spider. 

 The radii were about one-sixteenth of an inch apart at the bottom or 

 circumference of the dome. The concentrics extended entirely and 

 with equal regularity to the summit. They did not cross the radii in 

 circular lines, but presented that notched appearance which is observed 

 in the webs of some orb weavers, particularly those whose snares are 

 korizontal, as, for example, Hentz's Epeira hortorum. The meshes 

 formed by the radii and spirals had thus much the shape of the 



