TOILET AND HOUSEKEEPING HABITS. 



19 



herself back and forward across an arc of four or five inches, moving her- 

 self by the free legs, but always holding to the dragline by at least one foot. 



Having thus secured a position for convenient labor she seized with her 

 fore feet the intruding leaf, and began removing the spiral and radial lines 

 upon which it was entangled. These were pulled away by the claws and 

 bitten off by the mouth. To promote this purpose the leaf was turned over 

 by the fore legs, assisted by the short third pair. When one end was 

 released it was carried towards the spider's mouth, gradually passed under- 

 neath the face by the 

 movement of the fore 

 legs, and the clinging 

 parts of the viscid lines 

 in the meantime were 

 gnawed -away from the 

 undetached portions of 

 the leaf. Finally the leaf 

 was freed from its en- 

 tanglement, and held off 

 a little spsLce from the 

 body by the legs, which 

 were now bunched close 

 underneath the jaws. 

 Then, swinging herself 

 outward a little ways 

 from the orb, the spider 

 passed the leaf away from 

 her downward, and when 

 nearly freed from her 

 grasp gave it a joint push 

 and fling with the fore 

 part of the legs which 

 cast it to the ground. 



This process was re- 

 peated in the case of the 

 other rubbish in the web. 



Fig. 6. A Shamrock spider cleansing her snare of an entangled leaf. 

 The figure shows her in the last act. 



The long twig, which hung crosswise of the orb, caused her much 

 trouble, but she got rid of it very skillfully. Cutting away all the lines 

 on either side, she seized the twig and gradually pulled it beneath her face as 

 she hung head downward, and so passed it underneath her body and away 

 from the orb little by little. Then she poised it for a moment in a con- 

 venient position, and with a quick fling cast it from her towards the 

 ground, the fore legs being used for this act of expulsion. She experi- 

 enced much difficulty at times with the sticky lines, and at various inter- 

 vals was compelled to pause and clear her feet and legs of the viscid 



