OHAPTEE III. 

 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ORBWEAVERS' SNARES. 



The .so-ealled " geometric web " which one sees in art work and book 

 ilhistrations has no pkice in nature. Were that taken as the standard one 

 would decide that there is Httle need of comparison, and no room for 

 classification, since in the books no more differences exist among Orb- 

 weavers' snares than miglit be found in the four wheels of a wagon. 



Fig. 17. A vertical snare, full orbud. Saare of Argiope cophinaria. 



Unfortunately our artists, and indeed Hie same is largely true of natural- 

 ists as concerns cobwebs, are too much inttiit upon general effects to attend 

 to sucli siuall details as variations in the web architeciure of a spider. 

 As couiiiioii a lioiire as is the wheel sha})ed snare of the Orbweaver, I re- 

 member but one whii'li gave proof of having been tlrawn from a natural 



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