58 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 



terfere with the wings of small insects flying 

 between them, and they fall down to the dome 

 below, where they are seized, and pulled 

 through the nearest hole. Linyphia communis 

 makes a double web, Fig. 26. The spider 

 stands under the upper sheet, which curves a 

 little downward. What the use of the lower 

 web is, is not easily seen. Either of these 

 spiders, when frightened, leaps out of the web 

 to the ground ; but Linyphia communis must 

 go to the edge before she can clear herself, 

 and so is easily caught in her own web. 



A little spider, Argyrodcs, belonging to the 

 same family, lives among the upper threads of 

 webs of this kind, without being troubled by 

 the owner. It resembles in size and color the 

 scales of pine-buds that often fall in the web, 

 and may easily be mistaken for them. It 

 probably spins a few threads of its own among 

 the borrowed ones, and does, at times, make a 

 separate web of its own. 



The webs of Theridiou usually have at some 

 part a tent, or at least a thicker portion, under 

 which the spider stands ; and from this run 

 irregularly simple threads, crossing each other 



