Superfamily Argiopoldea 



an old dome. The dome consisted of a large number of radii, 

 which were about one sixteenth inch apart at the bottom of the 

 dome, and a spiral line, which was attached to the radii in the 

 same way that the spiral line of the notched zone of an ordinary 

 orb is attached. Doctor McCook does not state whether this line 

 was dry or viscid. His account was based on observations made 

 on a single web, which he found near Austin, Tex. It was hung 

 about two feet from the ground upon a bush, which stood in the 

 midst of a grove of young live oaks. 



Later, Dr. Geo. Marx observed several specimens of this spe- 

 cies in the shrubbery of some parks in Washington, D. C. He 

 watched the building of the dome. This was, when first observed, 



Fig. 43°- HENTZIA BASILICA 



a horizontal orb, with more than fifty radii, supporting the spiral 

 line. After the completion of the orb its margin was pulled down 

 by means of lines extending from it and its centre was elevated 

 until the dome-shaped form was attained. 



It is very desirable that further observations should be made 

 upon this remarkable orb. Is the spiral line dry and inelastic, 

 like the thread of the notched zone of other orbs, or is it viscid and 

 elastic? In the former case the web could be regarded as a 

 specialization of the Linyphia type, as illustrated by Linyphia 

 marginata; in the latter, as a modified web of Aranea. The former 

 would be a connecting link between the webs of the Linyphiidae 

 and those of the Argiopidae; the latter, a highly specialized argi- 

 opid web. 



418 



