208 



THE COMMON SPIDERS 



There is not much difference in size between the sexes, but they 



are often very differently colored, and the males do not have 



the cribellum and calamistrum, or have only rudiments of them. 



Some species live on walls and fences, making large webs 



that become conspicuous from 

 the dust which they collect. 

 Others prefer the tops of plants 

 like stiff grass and the tops of 

 golden-rod and spiraea. Others, 

 like volupis (fig. 474), prefer 

 leaves and the ends of growing 

 branches. The webs are usually 

 irregular, but sometimes are 

 nearly round and formed by 

 threads radiating from the 

 spider's hole, crossed irregu- 

 larly by other threads (fig. 471). 

 Dictyna volupis. — This species 

 and frondea are brighter 

 colored and more slender 

 than miiraria and volucripes 

 (fig. 484) and live among the 

 leaves of bushes. The female 

 volupis has the legs pale, 

 almost white, and the cepha- 

 lothorax light brown, darker at 

 the sides and light on the head 

 (fig. 474). The abdomen is 

 yellow in the middle and brown, sometimes red, at the sides. 

 The middle yellow portion forms a regular figure differing 

 much in different individuals. The male is quite differently 

 colored. The cephalothorax, which is larger, is bright orange 

 brown, without much difference between the head and the 



Fig. 473. Web of Dictyna on the 

 end of a twig. 



