72 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



As a rule, the last named genera will remain upon their webs until 

 they are worn out, and repair them whenever the exigency requires, making 



the changes ordinarily either in the morning or in the evening, 

 ime or ^^^^ ^^^^ attempting to mend the broken lines, except as above 



stated, in a casual way, to prevent the collapsing of the snare 

 after the disruptions caused by violent insect struggles. They will hold on 

 to the snare and let it do what duty it may until toward the close of the 

 day, when they proceed to cut away the fragments and build anew. It 

 will thus be seen that the act of mending a web in the case of Orbweavers 

 is not common, but confined to the damages done by struggling victims 



Fig. 50. A Shamrock spider mending a wind wrecked web. 



and to the slight impairments due to incidental casualties, such as the 

 dropping of leaves, twigs, or the effects of the wind. 



An interesting illustration of the behavior of the s])iders under the 

 last named condition was seen during a gale of wind at Niantic, Connec- 

 ticut. An adult female Shamrock spider, Epeira trifolium, had 

 A Wind stretched her large vertical orb from a clump of young oak bushes 

 on the one hand to a cluster of tall golden rods on the other, 

 the intervening space over which her foundation line was stretched 

 being six or seven feet. The lower parts of the snare were stayed to 

 herbage on the ground. A strong gale from the sea was blowing, and 

 whipped the tops of the golden rod back and forth so violently that the 

 main foundation line was snapped and the upper part of the web collapsed. 



Wrecked 

 Web 



