112 A NATURALIST IN HIMALAYA 



was frequently very eccentric. Thus the spider, when 

 constructinq^ an eccentric snare, would have to separate 

 the various turns of the viscid spiral more widely on 

 the broad side of the centre and approximate them 

 on the narrow side, or else would have to insert more 

 turns on the former than on the latter side if it wished 

 to produce a harmonious fabric. Now every time the 

 spider turned in its course it inserted, as is clear from 

 the diagram (Fig. 6), an additional filament on that 

 side of the centre, which addition was absent from the 

 opposite side. Can it be that, in order to ensure 

 harmony in its snare, the spider reverses on the broad 

 side and continues an uninterrupted course in its work 

 on the narrow side.'* Certainly this method would 

 produce symmetry, and in all probability would be a 

 more simple operation for the spider than the attempt 

 to draw parallel lines at different distances, wide apart 

 on the broad side and closer together on the narrow 

 side of the centre. 



I discovered a very eccentric snare with the radii 

 just completed. I followed the spider at its work on 

 the viscid spiral. I carefully noted the number of 

 reverses and whether they occurred on the broad 

 or narrow side of the centre. The spider circled 

 round and round the snare and made exactly thirty 

 complete turns from its commencement to its com- 

 pletion. But in addition to the complete turns, the 

 spider reversed fourteen times, and every single one 

 of those reverses added an additional filament to the 

 broad side of the centre and not one to the narrow 

 side. The turns of the spiral on the broad side were 

 not more widely separated than those on the narrow 

 side, but their number was much greater. After the 



