152 A NATURALIST IN HIMALAYA 



raised and lowered and hooked around the filaments 

 with such perfect precision that under no condition 

 whatsoever do they become entangled in the snare. 



I was interested one day in observing that the 

 Hippasa was actually able to burrow through the 

 substance of its snare. A wasp of the species Polistes 

 hebrceus had become entangled. The spider dared 

 not attack so formidable an enemy, but slunk away to 

 the edge of the snare. The wasp, in its struggles to 

 get free, dragged the web to pieces and succeeded in 

 confining the spider beneath a fold of its own snare. 

 The spider, nothing daunted, flexed its limbs, deftly 

 separated the filaments of its web, very rapidly 

 burrowed its way up through the body of the snare, 

 and set about the work of reconstruction. Such is the 

 freedom of the Hippasa when moving amongst the 

 intricacies of its own lines. 



These spiders have learnt the lesson of the use- 

 lessness of snare-construction in stormy weather. 

 Heavy downpours of rain, occurring at frequent 

 intervals and sometimes lasting for many days, break 

 upon these hills. At such periods the spiders remain 

 in their little rocky clefts and never attempt to con- 

 struct a snare, knowing full well that it would be 

 broken to fragments by the next downfall. 



The Hippasa displays a most remarkable instinctive 

 power in the seizure of its prey. It injects the poison 

 into the one vital spot that will instantly paralyze its 

 victim. One might almost be led to believe that these 

 spiders were acquainted with the minute anatomical 

 structure of insects. It is very essential to the spider 

 that it should know how to render its prey immediately 

 quiescent, It must strike suddenly and with instan- 



