The Life of Spiders 



differs from the webs described above in the nature of the viscid 

 silk; it is an orb-web with a hackled band. 



Triangular web. — The remarkable web of Hyptiotes (Fig. 246) 

 represents a distinct type, which has been named the triangular 

 web. 



Irregular webs with hackled bands. — Under this head may be 

 classed all of the webs made by our common cribellate spiders 

 excepting Uloborus and Hyptiotes. The webs of the different 

 genera included here show striking differences, which are de- 

 scribed in the accounts of the spiders given later. 



Sheet and irregular net webs. — The webs of certain spiders, as 

 Linyphia marginata (Fig. 405) and Linyphia communis (Fig. 400) 

 are composite in nature being composed of a definite sheet com 

 bined with an irregular net. 



Orb and irregular net. — The web of Metepeira labyrinthea 

 (Fig. 187) represents also a composite type of web; here an orb- 

 web is combined with an irregular net. There are species of 

 Aranea that make this type of web. 



VII.— THE BUILDING OF AN ORB-WEB 



Few if any of the structures built by lower animals are more 

 wonderful than the webs of an orb-weaver; it is of interest, there- 

 fore, to follow the steps by which one is made. 



The bridge. — In making its web an orb-weaver first spins 

 a number of lines extending irregularly in various directions about 

 the place where its orb is to be. This is the outer supporting 

 framework. Often the first line spun is a bridge between two 

 quite distant points so situated with regard to each other that 

 it would not be possible for the spider to carry a dragline from one 

 to the other in the ordinary way. For example, webs are often 

 built between two trees or shrubs above herbage which would 

 make it impossible for the spider to carry a line over the inter 

 vening ground; and it is not an unusual occurrence to see a web 

 stretched between shrubs separated by a running brook. 



In these cases the first line was formed in this way: The 

 spider, after selecting a point for beginning its operations, lifts 

 up the abdomen away from the object on which it is standing 

 and spins out a thread, which is carried off by a current in the 

 air. After a time the thread strikes some object and adheres 



196 



