206 
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 
was being played ; but as soon as the orchestra began to 
sound it quickly ran back again . 1 Similar observations 
have been published by Rabigot, Simonius, von Hartmann, 
and others. 
A highly probable explanation of these facts has re- 
cently been given by Mr. C. V. Boys, which relieves us of 
the necessity of imputing to animals so low in the scale 
any rudiment of aesthetic emotion as aroused by musical 
tones. As the observation is an interesting one, I shall 
quote it in extenso : — * 
Having made some observations on the garden spider which 
are I believe new, I send a short account of them, in the hope 
that they may be of interest to the readers of Nature. 
Last autumn, while watching some spiders spinning their 
beautiful geometrical webs, it occurred to me to try what effect 
a tuning-fork would have upon them. On sounding an A fork, 
and lightly touching with it any leaf or other support of the 
web, or any portion of the web itself, I found that the spider, if 
at the centre of the web, rapidly slues round so as to face the 
direction of the fork, feeling with its fore- feet along which 
radial thread the vibration travels. Having become satisfied 
on this point, it next darts along that thread till it reaches 
either the fork itself or a junction of two or more threads, the 
right one of which it instantly determines as before. If the 
fork is not removed when the spider has arrived it seems to 
have the same charm as any fly ; for the spider seizes it, em- 
braces it, and runs about on the legs of the fork as often as it is 
made to sound, never seeming to learn by experience that 
other things may buzz besides its natural food. 
If the spider is not at the centre of the web at the time that 
the fork is applied, it cannot tell which way to go until it has 
been to the centre to ascertain which radial thread is vibrating, 
unless of course it should happen to be on that particular 
thread, or on a stretched supporting thread in contact with the 
fork. 
If, when a spider has been enticed to the edge of the web 
the fork is withdrawn, and then gradually brought near, the 
spider is aware of its presence and of its direction, and reaches 
out as far as possible in the direction of the fork ; but if a 
sounding fork is gradually brought near . a spider that has not 
been disturbed, but which is waiting as usual in the middle of 
1 Body and Mind , p. 275. 
