ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1589 



to break the mesh. The usual practice is to 

 stand on a rock in backwater where there is an 

 eddy. There they watch for a risli. and then 

 dexterously dip it up and throw it on to the 

 bank. Several men would set up bamboos so as 

 to have nets ready all together, and would then 

 arrange little fishing parties. It seemed to me 

 that the substance of the web resisted water as 

 readily as a duck's back." 



Since writing the above, a third brief refer- 

 ence to the spiders-web fish-net has come to 

 light. In 1913, Captain C. G. Hawling. a fel- 

 low of the Royal Society of Great Britain, pub- 

 lished in London a work bearing the title "The 

 Land of the New Guinea Pygmies. An Account 

 of the Story of a Pioneer Journey of Explora- 

 tion into the Heart of New Guinea." His ex- 

 plorations were done in Dutch New Guinea, on 

 the southern side of the western end of the 

 island beginning in 1910 and covering about a 

 year and a half. On page 289 is found this in- 

 teresting statement: 



NEW GUINEA NATIVES FISHING 



Reproduced from Two Years Aniens Now Guinea 



Cannibals. 



account of his experiences during this time. On 

 pages 2(i(i and 267 is found the following re- 

 markable account of fishing with the spider-web 

 nets. The accompanying figures .ire reproduc- 

 tions of Mr. Pratt's plates: 



"One of the greatest curiosities that I noted 

 during my stay in New Guinea was the spiders' 

 web fishing-net. In the forest at this point 

 (Waley, near Yule Hay), huge spiders' webs, 

 six feet in diameter, abounded. These were wo- 

 ven in a large mesh, varying from one inch 

 square at the outside of the web to about one- 

 eighth inch at the centre. The web was most 

 substantial, and had great resisting power, a 

 fact of which the natives were not slow to avail 

 themselves, for they have pressed into the serv- 

 ice of man this spider, which is about the size 

 of a small hazel-nut. with hairy, dark-brown 

 legs, spreading to about two inches. This dili- 

 gent creature they have beguiled into weaving 

 their fishing-nets. At the place where the webs 

 are thickest they set up long bamboos, bent over 

 in a loo)) at the end. In a very short time the 

 spider weaves a web on this most convenient 

 frame, and the Papuan has his fishing-net ready 

 to his hand. 



"He goes down to the stream and uses it with 

 great dexterity to catch fish of about one pound 

 in weight, neither the water nor the fish sufficing 



NEW GUINEA NATIVE AND HIS SPIDER 

 Reproduced from Two Years An)ons New 



WEB NET 

 Guinea 



