916 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVlll. 
is a simple matter to operate on these long limbs, much easier than on the little 
agile Araneus. But we are dealing with a very timid creature and we must 
be patient in waiting for the result. With a fine pair of scissors I snip off the 
tips of the two hind legs. The Nephila is very concerned. She does not soon 
return to work as did the mutilated Araneus ; she remains at the outskirts of her 
snare for as long as six hours. At length she does return and again takes up her 
spiral thread. I watch her movements, and it is clear in a moment that I have 
anticipated the result aright. It is the same as occurred to the Araneus after 
her fore leg had been removed. The Nephila, as a result of the mutilation, is 
immediately at serious fault. She advances in her slow methodical way. But 
no longer do the hind legs apply themselves to their task ; no longer do the 
claws clutch on to the radius ; the amputated tarsi are now held wide apart 
and tilted behind her clear of the web. Nevertheless she works persistently 
on ; she climbs across from radius to radius, and, though clearly hampered by 
the grievous loss, yet she sticks with a dogged determination to the work. 
Though her organ of measurement is gone, yet her instinct still impels her on, 
and, correct or incorrect, she must anchor a spiral of some kind to her spokes. 
Therefore hour after hour she struggles perseveringly on. Though she can no 
longer measure from her viscid spiral, yet she still has a rough and imperfect 
guide. She can work along the turns of her temporary spiral ; they will not help 
her to draw her lines parallel, but at least they will keep her in her circular course 
She thus looks to her temporay spiral for assistance in her present strait. She 
applies her third pair of legs to it, and, employing it as a guide, she works round 
and round her snare. With its help she lays down three or four turns of her viscid 
spiral, and anchors them in some way to the spokes. Then she passes in to the 
next circle of her temporary spiral, and, under the guidance of this, she lays 
down three or four turns more. Thus she advances to the centre employing the 
circles of her temporary spiral as a number of successive guides. They are 
certainly of value to her ; they help her to maintain her circular direction ; they 
prevent the most absolute and complete confusion ; they lend some slight aid 
to a spiral workmanship, but they cannot supply that dehcate adjustment 
necessary to ensure the parallelism of the lines. It is otherwise ; the viscid spiral 
is all chaos and confusion. The lines meet one another ; they cross ; they in- 
tertangle ; they are anchored here and there and anywhere, and always in the 
wrong place. Nevertheless she persists ; she struggles on to her last attachment, 
working for half the night. She secures the final touch in place ; she seals it 
with her usual care and precision, as though she had completed as harmo- 
nious a fabric as ever she had woven before in her life. It is an example of 
dogged determination, but it is a tangled and disordered work. The turns of 
the temporary spiral are distinct owing to the parallelism in their successive 
coils. But the viscid filament is only an endless tangle ; there is no trace of 
that exquisite and perfect parallelism which is the feature of admiration in the 
geometrical snare. Why ? The Nephila has lost her organ of measurement ; 
she has been robbed of her geometrical power. 
Just one final word of summary in order to contrast the architecture of the 
Nephila with that of a species such as the Araneus which constructs an ordinary 
snare. I will review only the most striking points. The web of the Araneus 
is twelve inches across ; the sheet of the Nephila is as tall as a man. The Ara- 
neus extends about twenty radii ; the Nephila spreads out a hundred or more. 
At each journey the Araneus lays a single radius ; the Nephila secures a pair. 
Each spoke of the Araneus is a double filament ; the Nephila makes a single 
line. Undivided radii is the system of the Araneus ; the Nephila prefers bran- 
ching spokes. By a four-pace interval the Araneus measures the distance 
between her radii ; the Nephila secures her interval by measuring from the tip 
of her hind leg to her spinnerets. At the centre the Araneus attaches a little 
spiral which serves the purpose of a hub ; the Nephila has nothing of the kind 
