196 



THE COMMON SPIDERS 



the legs are distinctly marked with dark rings on the ends 

 and middle of each joint. When very young the abdomen is 

 slender, the color is pale, and the markings gray, without the 

 strong black and yellow of the adult. The male (fig. 450) is 



Fig. 453. Web of Argiope riparia in an oval opening among plants from which the 

 leaves have been drawn away by the spider. At the left of the web is a screen of 

 irregular threads. 



only a fourth as long as the female, similarly colored, but with 

 the markings less distinct and the palpi very large. In the mid- 

 dle of the summer they live near the webs of the females, where 

 they make small and imperfect webs of their own (fig. 452). 

 The females make webs, sometimes two feet in diameter, with 



