The Life of Spiders 



by some crab-spiders, by some of the jumping spiders, and by 

 various others. 



Some web-building species live upon their webs and have 

 no definite retreat, merely running away from the web or dropping 

 to the ground when disturbed. But very many of them build a 

 nest near the web in which they watch for their prey and to 

 which they retreat when frightened. In the funnel-web weavers 

 this is a silken tube connected with the sheet which forms the 

 principal part of the web. This funnel either serves as the 

 retreat or leads into a more distant crack. Many of the orb- 

 weavers roll or fold a leaf or tie several leaves together and line 

 the space thus formed with silk. This nest is usually built above 

 the web or at one side and there is a trapline leading from it to 

 the centre of the orb, by which any disturbance of the web is 

 communicated to the spider waiting in its nest, and down which 

 it rushes to get its prey. A very elaborate nest of this kind is 

 made by the lattice-spider, Aranea thaddeus (Fig. 195). The 

 young of many species make their retreats entirely of silk while 

 the adults of the same species use a folded leaf or a bunch of 

 leaves. 



IX.— THE PAIRING OF SPIDERS 



There are many very interesting facts connected with the 

 pairing of spiders; but the scope of this work admits of only a brief 

 reference to them here. The anomalous specialization in the 

 male of a pair of appendages of the head, the palpi, as secondary 

 sexual organs is described in the chapter on external anatomy. 

 In this place I wish merely to call attention to the behaviour of 

 certain spiders at the mating season. 



The sedentary spiders are the ones most easily observed at 

 this time, owing to the fact that the females remain upon or near 

 their webs and are therefore easily found, or are frequently 

 accidently discovered, when mating. 



With many species of these spiders, there is a striking dis- 

 parity in the size of the two sexes, the female being many times 

 larger than the male; but with others the difference in size is not 

 so marked. 



The males of the orb-weavers, for example, resemble the 

 females in habits, making webs like them, until they reach 

 maturity. They then wander in search of their mates. After 



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