THE RAY SPIDER AND HER SNARE. 207 



Epeira hortorum, and of one or two species of Theridioids, were in close 

 neighborhood. The whole pretty scene was embowered in a grove of young 

 trees. A more charming habitat could not w^ell have been found. 



Another colony, not far away, was established within the cavities formed 

 underneath the roots of a large fallen tree, and beneath the ledges of some 

 rocks over which the roots turned. In several similar positions were found 

 the same snares, and also among the rocks in a wild ravine through which 

 ran the stream, Lownes' Run. 



Further explorations of the surrounding country showed that the spider 

 was largely distributed, and in similar conditions. I found numbers in 

 ravines, on the broad leaves of the skunk cabbage,^ whose snares were 

 stretched above the brooklet, and beneath the shelving banks. They were 

 also found among the rocks of Crum Creek over the beautiful drive to 

 Howard Lewis' mill. Subsequently I collected the same spider in Eastern 

 Ohio (New Lisbon, Columbiana County), where it was domiciled in a deep, 

 cool ravine, Mineral Spring Glen. A runlet that cuts across the escapement 

 of a hill on its "way to Little Beaver Creek, has worn out the rocks into a 

 series of descending steplike platforms, over w^hich the stream flows, form- 

 ing one or two waterfalls of some height. On each side of the stream, 

 and particularly under the ledges of the rock platforms, the snares of 

 Theridiosoma were placed. The habitat of the Ray spider may therefore 

 be described as moist, cool, shaded cavities and recesses among rocks and 

 roots, beneath banks and foliage, over or near running water. I have com- 

 pared my specimens with some of Mr. Emerton's collections, made in va- 

 rious parts of New England, and find them identical. A specimen sent by 

 Dr. Koch to Count Kej^serling had been collected by Dr. Brendel in Peoria, 

 Illinois. 



The distribution of the Ray spider is thus greatly enlarged, and no 

 doubt it will be found in many other parts of America. One might venture 

 the opinion, based upon its peculiar habitat, that the species will 

 .. ' also be found in Canada. Accepting the species as identical 



with Theridiosoma gemmosum, of which I liave no doubt, we are 

 able to place this interesting aranead also among those American species 

 that have an intercontinental and possibly a cosmopolitan distribution. 



i« 



Symplocarpus (or Ichtodes) fcutidus. 



