532 DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME NEW ARANEIDiE, 



simple reason that they are not to leeward of the spicier and the 

 prevailing air-current. In his work on " The Spiders of Dorset," 

 Cambridge says : — " Spider lines may frequently be observed 

 strained across oj)en spaces of many feet and even yards in extent. 

 This has been explained by some naturalists to have l>een done 

 by the help of a current of air carrying the thread across. I 

 cannot, of course, say that it has never been thus effected;. though 

 I have certainly never myself witnessed it. I have, however, on 

 several occasions seen a spider fix its line, then run down to the 

 ground, across the intervening space, and so up the opposite side, 

 trailing its line as it went, and then, having hauled in the slack, 

 it fixed the line to the desired spot. This I believe to be the usual 

 mode of pi'oceedings in such cases "* In addition to this, it is 

 only fair to say that in the second volume of his work, and after 

 further investigation, the distinguished author modified the 

 expression of opinion just quoted. 



The webs of spiders of the genus Gasteracantha are always 

 ])laced low down, sometimes only two feet from the ground, and 

 are of varying lengths. Some that I have measured were only 

 three feet in length, and some even less, while others were fully 

 six. These webs are generally found in rough, scrubby localities, 

 in which the intervening spaces between the two points of attach- 

 ment are such that it would be very unlikely indeed for the 

 architect to be successful in any attempt to cany its thread from 

 one point to another. One evening last summer I watched a 

 spider (an Epeirid) that had located itself on one of the highest 

 spurs of a rose bush. It threw out a line of silk, l)ut owing to 

 no suitable attachment being in line with it and the direction of 

 the prevailing air-current, it failed to secure a connection. Nor 

 was it content with one trial, but made repeated efforts to achieve 

 its object. After the lapse of an hour I took the spider from the 

 position it had selected and placed it on another shrub, opposite 

 to which, and in a line with the air-current, another plant was 

 standing, and although it made no attempt to repeat the efforts 

 just narrated before I retired, I found upon visiting the spot 

 next morning that it had succeeded in fabricating its snare. 



* Spiders of Dorset, Vol. i., Introduction, p. xxi. 



