Ml-. W. W. Saunders on a Spider's TFeh. 127 



In concluding these remarks, I would suggest the formation of a 

 Committee to investigate all that relates to silk. Let the silk ma- 

 nufacturer learn that the Committee is disposed to give him all the 

 assistance in its power, that it is equally desirous of his advice and 

 observation ; let the mechanic learn that we need his practical aid, 

 on which he alone can give us useful assistance, A Report, ema- 

 nating from this Society, embodying in it the opinions of the manu- 

 facturer, the mechanic, and entomologist would do some good. If 

 the object of producing silk in England fail altogether, we shall still 

 have the merit of meaning well : should it succeed, however, thou- 

 sands of our poorer countrymen will find employment and reap the 

 benefit. 



XXVIII. Remarks on some Mechanical Peculiarities noticed 

 in a Spider's fVeh observed at fVandsicorth, Surrey. By 

 W. W. Saunders, Esq., F.L.S., &;c. 



[Read March 2, 1835.] 



In vol. v. page 689, of Loudon's Magazine of Natural History is 

 an account of some Geometrical Spider's webs, observed by Mr. 

 Spence in the Giardino Publico at Milan. The singularity of these 

 webs consisted in their being only suspended at two of the general 

 points of support, and being balanced by a small piece of gravel, 

 dead leaf, &c. at the third. No such webs as these having been pre- 

 viously observed in Britain, so far as I am aware, the object of the 

 present short communication is to describe, and offer some remarks 

 on, one which I noticed last season in my garden at Wandsworth, 

 proving that our spiders are not backward in that ingenuity which 

 Mr. Spence shows the Italian spiders to possess. 



On March the 30th, 1834, I observed a Geometrical Spider's web 

 hanging from a projecting ledge of woodwork, which was about four 

 feet from the ground. The web, as usual, was in a triangular frame- 

 work, the two upper points of support being fixed to the ledge just 

 mentioned, and the third bearing a small piece of gravel, which 

 weighed full six grains. The pebble had been raised rather more 

 than eighteen inches from the ground, and hung, gently moving with 

 the web at every breath of air. The pebble is oval-shaped, flatfish, 

 and was attached endways to the cable of support, so that the wind 

 made it whirl rapidly on its axis, as well as vibrate to and fro. 



