THE GENESIS OF SXARES. 



343 



any apparent purpose of the spider, drop into a maze of interlacing single 

 threads, which would present in crude form the typical snare of such 



genera as Theridium, Pholcus, Ero, Neriene, and others of the 

 Therid- Retitelaria?. That web is, in point of fact, just such a snare as 

 ^^ , , I have seen other spiders make, notably the Orbweavers, by such 

 Snare purposeless moving back and forward as I have mentioned. 



To be sure, the snares of Theridium and Pholcus, as we now see 

 them, have a little more iinished character than that of the crude cobweb 



Fig. 334. The sheeted web of Linyphia costata. 



described, but the difference is not very great, and it therefore implies a 

 rigid persistence in habit throughout an immense period of time. 



We take another step in the development of web making, confining 

 ourselves still to the tribe of Lineweavers. T have already descril)ed, in 

 the chapter on Engineering Skill, the manner in which Theridium tends 



