292 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



in the neighborliood of Niantic Bay, Connecticut. Tlie field had formerly 



been a wooded slope, but all the timber had been cut away, and in its 



stead an undergrowth of sumac, huckleberry, and laurel well 



A Pair nigh covered the surface. The characteristic stone fences of New 



pi er England marked the margins of the slope, along which clumps 



ment ^^ ferns, golden rod, raspberry vines, and various other wild 



plants were thickly aligned. Standing upon the crest of the 



hill, one could see in the ♦ distance the shimmering waters of tlie bay 



melting into the ocean beyond, covered with the white sails of passing 



ships. The permanent abodes and summer habitations of human beings 



were scattered along the crescent lines of the beach. The river wound in 



sinuous course at the foot of the hill, and emptied into the bay a mile or 



two beyond. 



The scene was a beautiful setting for a picture that warmed the heart 

 of an arachnologist. For all over these bushes that covered the rocky 

 slope was encamped an innumerable host of spiders of various species. It 

 has never been my privilege to see so many and such fine examples of the 

 order established within so limited a space. The largest and most beau- 

 tiful of our indigenous fauna were there represented in vast numbers. 

 Argiope cophinaria hung in the centre of her white shield, which with its 

 zigzag cords above and below glistened in the sunlight and marked dis- 

 tinctly the habitation of its proprietor. The black and yellow of the im- 

 mensely distended abdomen (for the time of ovipositing was near) and the 

 mingled black and brown of the outstretched legs showed in striking con- 

 trast against the pure white silken shield. 



Here and there one noted the orbs of our other species of Argiope (A. 

 argyraspis), whose web scarcely diifers from her congener, but whose abdo- 

 men of glittering silver, crossed with lines of black and yellow, at once 

 mark lier as peculiar and exceeding in beauty among the tribes of 

 Arachne. Here a delicate snare of the Hunchback spider, Epeira gib- 

 berosa, hung among the laurels, the bright green of the aranead lierself, 

 as she swung beneath the hub of her snare, scarcely distinguished against 

 the background of the leaves over which it was extended. 



If one reached out a hand to this side or that, he could touch the 

 beautiful orbs of two of our most persistent nest building species ; but the 

 spiders themselves were not in sight, and their great round 

 Tent snares seemed deserted. They hung to thick threads of yellow 



a ers g\\]^^ constituting the upper foundation line, thicker than an or- 

 dinary pack thread, of a gloss}^ yellow color, and stretched some- 

 times three feet, four feet, six feet, eight feet from point to point in the 

 midst of the open spaces between bush and bush. Whore are the occu- 

 pants of these empty webs ? What destroyer has been abroad that so 

 many of them should stand deserted at this evening hour ? 



Lay your hand upon this trapline, fastened to the centre of the orb, 



