116 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



Closely related to Sclopetaria is the well known species Epeira patagiata. 



It is distributed throughout Europe, and is one of the common species of 



Syria. Its round snares must have been familiar objects to the 



, . , ancient Palestinian prophets, and are as likely as any other to 



have suggested the several Scriptural metaphors drawn from the 



spider's web. It is an abundant species in parts of the United States, 



especially in New England along the seashore, and in the Adirondacks 



and northern sections of New York. I have studied its habits and spin- 



ningwork in these parts, and find that they differ in no respect from those 



of Sclopetaria, I have little doubt that the two spiders are one species, 



and indeed one finds it difficult to separate them into 

 even two well defined varieties. 



Epeira benjamina Walck., the Domicile Spider 

 (Epeira domiciliorum, of Hentz), has a very wide dis- 

 tribution. Hentz found it in Alabama; Em- 



^ . ., erton in New England ; I have collected it 



Domicile . ■ r^ 



Spider ^^^ Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Canada, New 



York, Ohio, New Jersey; and Mr. Peck- 

 ham in Wisconsin. Dr. Marx has specimens extending 

 northward and westward from Rhode Island, through 

 Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, to Spring Lake, Utah ; 

 and southwest as far as Fort Graham, Texas. It thus 

 has been traced over the entire United States to the 

 Rocky Mountains. In Colorado it has a vertical dis- 

 tribution of 12,000 feet. In the South, Hentz says 

 that she is often found in dark places, and even spins 

 her web in dark apartments not much frequented. I 

 never found the species, though abundant in this 

 latitude, in any such sites — but usuall}^ upon bushes 

 central of Epeira domiciii- and trecs, in yards and woods, commonly bright and 



sunny places. In one case I found several adult fe- 

 males hanging upon their large webs, which were spread against a frame 

 house, in the full blaze of a September sun. They kept the position 

 throughout the entire day. Such a difference in habit is certainly note- 

 worthy. After a heavy summer shower I once found two webs of this spe- 

 cies temporarily marked by what is a quite fixed characteristic of the webs of 

 Argiope. (Fig. 105.) Below the hub the notched zone was crossed 

 by a disk of thick, sheeted silk which extended downward be- 

 tween two of the radii, uniting them. A similar band united 

 two of the radii above the hub. I conjectured that these had 

 been thrown out from the spinnerets to strengthen the web 

 against the weight of the rain ; or as a protection, a sort of 

 umbrella, between the spider hanging on the side toward tlie busli and 

 the shower driving from the o[)[)osito quarter. Several specimens of J^^peira 



Fig. 105. Temporary ribbon 



Tempo- 

 rary 

 Ribbon 

 Decora- 

 tions. 



