246 The Ohio Journal of Science [Vol. XX, No. 7, 



claws of the chelicerae but more often this is omitted, the spider 

 advancing upon the insect and when it is nearly upon it, the 

 spider pulls a swathing band from the spinnerets and thrusts 

 this band against the insect with one of the hind legs. The 

 swathing band is of considerable length and of considerable 

 width. It changes from one hind leg to the other and so 

 keeps the insect at a safe distance. When the swathing band 

 has adhered sufficiently, it wraps the insect up. Sometimes the 

 insect is too large and the spider is compelled to retreat. But 

 very seldom is this the case for this spider is able to overpower 

 an insect several times its size. Argiope seems to possess 

 something which verges closely on what we term good judg- 

 ment for it seems to know what sized insects it can readily dis- 

 pose of and in case the insect is too large it drops to the ground 

 by means of a dragline or ascends to a leaf until all danger has 

 passed. But once it advances upon an insect the battle is on 

 until the insect has been securely wrapped up. The male makes 

 the same kind of a web as the female, but, considered from the 

 standpoint of their food relations, they are less important 

 because of their much smaller size and short life. I have often 

 found several males on the barrier web of the female. 



The great abundance of this spider is due to the kind of 

 snare it makes enabling it to cope with a variety of conditions 

 in securing food. The web is built close enough to the ground 

 so as to capture a great variety of insects that have the habit 

 of jumping from one place to another such as grasshoppers 

 and crickets. It is also built at a sufficient height as to capture 

 many insects that go from place to place by flying. Such a 

 snare has the advantage over such flat webs as the Funnel 

 Weaver's and the spider has a still greater advantage over those 

 spiders which make no web at all. 



The webs are constructed in a variety of places. A small 

 patch of blue grass sixty feet by one hundred and twenty feet was 

 literally covered with the webs of this spider. On the 14th of 

 August I counted one hundred and forty-four young spiders in this 

 grass patch. Webs were found in oats fields; sometimes the 

 webs were made on oats shocks. Some were found in pasture 

 fields but they were never found in abundance in fields where 

 cattle or sheep were pastured. They were noted on brush piles 

 and in woods where the trees were scattering but never in deep 

 woods. They were most abundant in places where there was 



