CHAPTER VI 



GEOMETRICAL SPIDERS 



Home of spider — Species under discussion — Constitution of colonies — 

 Construction of snare — Emission and structure of the first line — 

 Mechanism in construction of radii — Mechanism in hub — Mechanism 

 in temporary spiral — Mechanism in viscid spiral. 



The most ancient beds of the earth's crtist involved 

 in the upheaval of the Himalaya mountains are thick 

 masses of primary slates into which the molten granite 

 has intruded. They rise in Hazara into rounded hills 

 with smooth summits and sides crumbling to decay. 

 Little verdure clothes them. A few pines may cluster 

 on their peaks, or thorny bushes collect in their more 

 sheltered glens. Their flanks are hidden in a coarse 

 mountain grass, brown and parched in the dry sultry 

 months of summer, but changing into a pleasant green 

 after every fall of rain. The moisture that freshens 

 their surface likewise hews them to their present 

 shapes. Streams eat into their fissile sides and erode 

 valleys between their rounded backs. Softer and 

 harder strata meet the waters as they cut deeper into 

 the rock, and each changes the nature of their flow. 

 As the consistency of each bed alters or obstructs it, 

 the stream stagnates into a sluggish pool or splashes 

 onward in rivulets and cascades. 



These streams are the home of the geometrical 

 spiders. Over the running water, more often over the 

 transparent pools, these skilful architects extend their 



82 



