140 A NATURALIST IN HIMALAYA 



wound, that of the Tctra^^natha more wide apart. 

 The one is a narrow, the other a wide-meshed net. 

 The spiders themselves equally differ. Araneus is a 

 stout, compact, globular little creature with short quiver- 

 ing limbs and hasty in all its motions. Tetragnatha, on 

 the other hand, is a narrow elongated spider, with 

 limbs disproportionately long and slender and, in its 

 circles, moves with apparent method and precision. 

 Each has just finished the construction of its snare. I 

 make the interchange. At first there is the usual 

 alarm, but soon the spiders settle in their new abodes. 

 They accept the unnatural conditions and are satisfied. 



When I found that the Araneus accepted the snare 

 of the Tctragiiatha and the Tetragnatha that of the 

 Ara7iezis, I imagined that a geometrical spider had little 

 choice in this matter and was content with any snare. 

 But this proved to be a false opinion. 



I interchanged spiders when employed in their 

 architecture. I took a Tetragnatha from a snare in 

 which seventeen turns of the viscid spiral were 

 complete and transferred it to a very similar snare of 

 an Araneus in which only two turns were complete. 

 I expected the work to continue in the new snare, 

 but in all likelihood with greater difficulty. I was 

 mistaken. After a period of hesitation which lasted 

 for about ten minutes, the spider commenced to explore 

 its new surroundings. It repeatedly shook the web as 

 though it were discovering the direction in which the 

 main foundations lay. It moved all over the network. 

 It examined closely the radii, the temporary spiral, 

 measured all the numerous intervals and made itselt 

 thoroughly acquainted with the complexity of the new 

 snare. But it remained unsatisfied. It refused to sit 



