THE GEOMETRICAL SNARE 117 



I made some attempt to investigate the industry of 

 the architect ; to estimate the amount of work per- 

 formed and the time taken to complete it. Spanning 

 a deep reflecting pool I found the fragments of a snare. 

 Only the external frame, composed of strong founda- 

 tion-lines, remained. The more fragile texture in the 

 centre had vanished. It was evening. Soon the 

 Epeb'a would descend to its ruin, for the time of work 

 was drawing near. I thought I would wait for the 

 reconstruction to commence and attempt to estimate 

 the length of line emitted and the distance travelled 

 by the spider during the complete construction of its 

 snare. I waded out into the pool, found the diameter 

 of the framework to measure twenty-two inches, and 

 awaited the commencement of the work. 



As the sun sank low in the sky, the Epeira felt the 

 call to work. It moved out along the foundation-lines, 

 first to explore the framework, then to extend the radii 

 through the snare. I followed all the movements of 

 the spider from its first attachment to the completion 

 of the web, but I did not take the foundation-lines into 

 my reckoning, as these were a permanent structure 

 laid down many days before. With the exception of 

 these main foundation-lines, I estimated that, from the 

 commencement to the completion of the snare, the 

 spider emitted 122 feet of filament, made 699 attach- 

 ments and travelled over a distance of 178 feet. Yet 

 the whole was woven into a circular web 22 inches in 

 diameter and occupied the spider only 36 minutes. 

 This seemed to me an excellent instance of untirino- 

 industry as displayed by the more humble of organic 

 beings. 



It has been a subject of discussion how the silken 



