272 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [11:6— Sept., 1915 



to pierce the bodies of insects. At the same time she inserts a 

 drop of poison which probably insures death more quickly. The 

 fang is rarely used to bite human beings, never unless a person 

 is handling a spider and is bitten in self-defense. If this should 

 happen, the bite is no more serious than the sting of the bee. 



The Orb Weavers — Nothing is more fascinating than to watch 

 an orb weaver spin her web. She first selects the site for the be- 

 ginning of the web, usually a twig or leaf of some tree, shrub, or 

 vine. She covers this with a net-work of threads. Then she 

 clings to the edge of the support, her back downward, her spin- 

 nerets upward and extending outward in the direction that the 

 wind is blowing. While in this position, she sends out a stream 

 of silk. The breeze carries the threads far out. Some of them are 

 likely to catch upon some support. With a quick movement she 

 turns and touches her spinnerets to the support. Again she turns 

 with her head in the direction of the wind, and with the claws of 

 her front feet, gently pulls upon one thread after another. When 

 she finds one that is fastened at the further end, she at once fastens 

 it firmly to the support on which she stands. Then she performs 

 a most wonderful feat. With back downward, she runs along 

 this frail, swaying thread until she reaches the farthest end. 

 She spins another thread as she goes, to reinforce the first one. 

 So rapidly does she move that she seems to float through the air 

 instead of running along an almost invisible thread. She goes 

 back and forth over this thread a number of times, strengthening 

 it at each trip, with a new strand. 



This thread is the beginning of the frame-work of the web. 

 The spider now makes other firm threads in a similar manner, 

 some extending in one direction some in another, each attached 

 to some object. Then comes the spokes of the wheel. When 

 these are in, the spider starts at the center, spinning a wide spiral 

 of dry silk. She uses this afterwards as a sort of scaffolding upon 

 which to walk while she puts in the spiral of sticky silk. She 

 begins this at the outer portion of the web and works toward the 

 center. While doing this she cuts out the first spiral. The black 

 and yellow autumn spider places a zig-zag band across the hub 

 of her web, evidently to strengthen it. 



The Flying Spiders — While there are a number of small adult 

 spiders that may be seen flying through the air on their webs, 

 most of the flying spiders you find are the young of larger spiders. 



