THE SNARE OF THE OIANT WOOD SPIDER. 
923 
observed in the snare. This is the barrier, a complex maze of tangled lines 
which serves to prevent the escape of the capture by driving it back again 
into the snare. Her third lesson leaves the construction and deals with the 
destruction of the work. We have not seen it destroyed in the natural way, 
but we have observed sufficient to indicate the manner in which the struc- 
ture must certainly disappear. We have witnessed her ingenuity in gathering 
up her fragments and her coiling of the suspended rope. We have watched her 
in the patient and determined manner that she devoius every particle that re- 
mains. In her fourth lesson we learn the minute details of how she deals with 
her insect prey. We marvel at her knowledge of the vital point, and at the 
unerring precision of her stroke. We follow the manipulations by which she 
sheathes her capture and deprives it of its animal juice. Her last lesson 
is, I think, the most interesting of all. She instructs us in the origin of the 
superficial film that prevents her entanglement in her own snare. She informs 
us that it is no cutaneous secretion, but that she manufactures it in her sali- 
vary glands. She displays to us the method by which it is extracted and ap- 
plied to the essential parts. And finally she leaves us with reflections of wonder 
at the fluids which she is able to produce. 
Excellent Nephila. She has supplied us with all that we could wish or hope. 
She has taught us many a lesson in geometrical architecture^ and she has 
told us other things of interest too. 
