196 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



Discov- 

 ery. 



Fkj. 187. The Ray spider seated on her snare, just before 

 drawing the trapline. 



has been often searched by other wor 

 The first examples of the species 

 tion so far as the snare was 



concerned, because 



they seemed to he 



simply a new spe- 

 cies, or the young of an old 

 species of Orbweaver, hang- 

 ing upon the remnants of 

 webs greatly broken by or- 

 dinary wear and tear in cap- 

 turing insects. But the rep- 

 etition of the form, partic- 

 ularly the peculiar character 

 of the open central, struck 

 me as strange. How could 

 the nets of several spiders 

 possibly liappen to be twist- 

 ed into the same shape, and 

 that shape so strikingly odd 

 as that which I observed ? 

 This caused me to make a 



species will be considered more 

 fully in the appropriate part 

 of this work.^ At present we 

 may devote our attention to 

 the remarkable and most in- 

 teresting character of the 

 web. 



The locations in which I 

 first discovered the snares, and 

 where afterward I found them 

 to be quite abundant, had been 

 for several years a familiar 

 and favorite liunting ground 

 for spiders. It illustrates the 

 fact that some of the most in- 

 teresting discoveries that await 

 future observers may be found 

 near their own well known 

 haunts, and upon ground thai 



kers, or even by themselves. 



collected by me attracted little atten- 



FlQ. 188. 



Interblending of rays upon one axis. H, hub, or 

 central point; T, trapline. 



^ Dr. Thorell, to whom I sent specimens, has recently written me that he considers my 

 Radiosa quite identical with Tlieridiosorna gemmosum (L. Kocli), and agrees with me that 

 on structural grounds alone it mav be well ranked with the Urbitelariie. 



