108 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



47, but I have usually been able to determine it, when found without an 

 occupant, by the following features : The sheeted hub is not as large and the 

 tissue is not as thick, indeed it is sometimes expressed by only a faint puif, 

 or simply by a serrated or nodulated cord, as at Fig. 99, i. In short, a well 

 defined shield seems to be a permanent characteristic of the Basket Argiope's 

 orb, while Banded Argiope rather inclines to omit it or express it by zigzag 

 cords. Those cords are often thrown in arcs around the hub as at Fig. 99, 

 ii and iii, and give a pretty and striking effect to the web. However, I must 

 confess that my confidence in these distinctions is not very great ; and to 

 the untrained observer the differences between the two webs would hardly 

 be apparent. 



It is significant, as illustrating the community and persistence of habit 

 in a genus, however widely separated, that a spider (Epeira mauritia Walck.) 



closely allied to our Argiope 

 argyraspis is found in the is- 

 lands of Maurftia, 

 Reunion, and Mada- 

 gascar (Africa), with 

 precisely the same 

 habits. Vinson^ describes the 

 snare of this aranead with its 

 peculiar zigzag decorations, 

 with the X-like position of 

 the legs as she hangs upon 

 her snare, and the cocoon in 

 its site, in language which 

 might be used with equal pro- 

 priety of Argyraspis. With 

 slight change the figure of the 

 African Argiope as given by 

 Vinson might stand for a draw- 

 ing of our American species. 



An Afri- 

 can Con- 

 gener. 



12 — rii 



Fig. 100. A snare of Argiope argeiiteola. 



A third species of Argiope, which ajipears to be the Argiope argentata^ 

 of Koch, is found abundantly in the extreme Southwest of the 



Argiope Uiiited States. I have many specimens from Southern Califor- 

 nia, where it abounds, spinning its large, beautiful webs every- 

 where in the neighborhood of San Diego. It extends southward 



through Mexico, is widely distributed thoughout the states of South Anier- 



argen 

 tata. 



^ Araneides des Isles Reunion, &c., page XIII., 198, and Plate VIII., Fig. 2. 



2 Argiope argentutns, Koch, "Die Araehniden," t. 5, ])agt^ ;5S, pi. 154, Fig. oGO. Also 

 A. fonestrinns, id.. Fig. 15."). The Fi])eira argentie (P>. ai'gentata) of Walckenaer, ligui-ed 

 ri. IS, Fig. ii, Atlas, Apteres, is with little douht the same sjjider or a dose variety 

 thereof. Vol. II., Apteres, i>age 115. I first introduced this species to the rhiladelj)]iia Acad. 

 Nat. Sci. as new under the name of Argio|)e argi'iiteola. It is possihle that the spider will be 

 found specilically dillerent from A. argenta when specimens can be had for com])arison. 



