28 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



constructed by the joint labors of the wedded couple, and is a loosely 

 framed den, with quite open meshes, spun upon the blossoming top or be- 

 tween the stalks of grasses. ^ 



Of the beautiful European Orbweaver, Epeira quadrata, Menge states 

 that towards the end of July he observed five nests in which the two sexes 

 lived together peacefully. These nests are similar to those made 

 Tempo- jjy Q^j, ii^suiai. ^nd Shamrock spiders, which are dens of folded 

 J leaves, whose interiors are tapestried with silk. The female Quad- 



rata occupied the upper part of the nest, having her fore legs 

 doubled up so that the knees projected above the head. The male occu- 

 pied the opposite part of the tent, and kejjt his legs folded as conveniently 

 as was possible under the circumstances without elevating the body. This, 

 however, was not a permanent arrangement, but only a preliminary stage 

 of courtship, and doubtless terminated when the act of pairing occurred.'^ 



Fig. 9. Fig. 10. 



Fig. 9, female, and Fig. 10, male Water spider, Argyroneta aquatica. (After Blackwall.) 



I have seen the male and female of our Epeira insularis and trifolium occu- 

 pying the same tent, apparently under similar circumstances, and regarded 

 the situation as exceptional. Certainly these species habitually live separate. 

 The Abbe de Lignac, having placed a large number of Argyronetas in 

 a bottle, found that they devoured each other. The male, says he, which 

 was perhaps the only one, had been sacrificed to the jealousies 

 of the females, who after him were mutually destroyed.^ Baron 

 Walckenaer records a fact which appears to be contrary to this. 

 He pi;t a number of Water sjjiders in a glass vase along with some gold 

 fishes. Within the vase he placed a bunch of coral, and observed a female 

 make her bell shaped nest and attach it to a branch of the coral, and a 



'■ Staveley, British Spiders, page 120. 



^ Menge, Prussian Spiders. Under Epeira quadrata. 



^ Meinoire pour servir a conimeucer I'Histoire des Araign^es Aquatiques, page 52. Paris, 

 1748. By .loseph Albert de Large de Lignac. I quote here and elsewhere from the original 

 edition in the library Acad. Nat. Sci. of Philadelphia. 



Domes- 

 ticity. 



