212 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



prolongation at the bottom. The free space exscinded about one-fifth of 

 the orb. The trapline branched at the hub end, and was held at the 

 other end by the spiderling, which was backed against the axil of the 

 leaf, surrounded by a tiny open booth of delicate cross lines. This leaf 

 was braced to one behind it by various cords. 



The late Rev. J. C. Wood, a good observer in many things, indorses the 

 current opinion that if spiders find that the wind stretches their nets to a 

 dangerous extent, they hang pieces of wood, stone, or other sub- 

 Epeiras glance to them, so as to obtain the needful steadiness. He de- 

 . , clares that he had seen a piece of wood which had been thus 



used by a Garden spider, and which was some two inches in 

 length and thicker than an ordinary drawing pencil. The spider hauled 

 it to a height of nearly five feet, and wdien the suspending thread was 

 accidentally broken the little creature immediately lowered itself to the 

 ground, attached a fresh thread, ascended again to the web and hauled the 

 piece of wood after it. It brought this balance weight a distance of five 

 feet along the ground before reaching the spot below the web. There 

 were eight or ten similar webs in the veranda, but only in this single 

 instance was the net steadied by a weight.^ I cannot pretend, in view of 

 the indefinite nature of the record, to explain on more natural principles 

 the action of this spider. Had the stick been attached to the bottom of the 

 web, I could have more readily drawn the inference that the purpose was 

 to stay the orb against the violence of the wind ; but I cannot imagine 

 what use it could have been at the top, where it ought to have had a con- 

 trary effect. However, the inference which the ingenious and interesting 

 popular writer has drawn from the incident is in any case entirely too 

 sweeping. 



Mr. Wood's incident does not stand alone. In " Hardwicke's Science 

 Gossip," an admirable repository for general observations made by natural- 

 ists and nature loving persons in Great Britain, I find several records of a 

 similar character, wdiich I here note. 



A large Diadem spider had begun a web by fastening threads to the 



eaves of a corridor roof about seven feet liigh. The extreme points of 



the outer stay lines were about four feet apart, and these were 



°^® united at a distance of about three feet from the roof, thus 



_Arir*rioT* 



forming a triangle. From the point thereof a single strand was 

 carried down to within two or three inches of the ground. To the end of 

 this strand was suspended a small triangular stone about half an inch 

 across and one-fourth of an inch thick. It is evident, says the observer, 

 that the stone must have been fastened to the glutinous web as it lay upon 

 the earth, and was subsequently draw^n u}). As the wind caught the web 

 it caused the stone to vibrate gently, and tlie motion thus communicated 



^ Wood, " Homes Without Hands," page 319. 



