122 A NATURALIST IN HIIMALAYA 



shows us that in the ortranic world there is nothing 

 really perfect. Even in the structure of the human 

 eye there is error upon error. So it is with the snare. 

 Exquisite as is its workmanship, it is not in the 

 strictest sense geometrically exact. Careful observa- 

 tion will detect numerous imperfections. The centre 

 is often not a true centre, the radii diverge from an 

 eccentric point ; the radii, first thought to be of equal 

 length, are found to be unequal ; the angles, though 

 approximating closely, all slightly differ ; lines, though 

 in apparent parallel, would many of them soon meet. 

 The vision of the whole is one of delicate perfection ; 

 the inspection of the detail reveals minute imperfec- 

 tions. But surely this does not diminish our wonder 

 at the workmanship. It is enlightening to see the 

 apparently accurate built up of countless error. And 

 the errors are trivial. Each, no doubt, has some 

 reason for its existence ; though each to our eyes 

 appears a fault, yet they all blend in harmony. So 

 it is all through organic life. Everywhere in nature, 

 both in instinct and in structure, we witness imper- 

 fection and error. Even that most wonderful and 

 economical of instincts, the cell-building of the honey- 

 bee, is far from really perfect. I doubt if in the 

 whole world of nature there exists a faultless instinct 

 or a perfect structure. But few structures can better 

 claim perfection than this delicate circular snare. 



Such is the construction, such the destruction of a 

 spider's geometrical snare. This is the architecture 

 of the Araneus, though I do not speak for the rest of 

 the Epeiridcs. Strict and unswerving mechanism is 

 the secret of the work, not only of its accuracy but 

 of its beauty. The power to nieasure is the guiding 



