262 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWOEK. 



There is no difference between the aeronautic habit of these araneads 

 and that of spiders in other parts of the United States. Moreover, obser- 

 vations of naturalists on l)ullooning sjjiders in various (juarters of tlie globe 

 show that the same methods everywhere prevail. It will be further ob- 

 served that the notes relate chiefly to Lyeosids, which api)ear to be univer- 

 sally addicted to the ballooning habit. This is probably true of all Citi- 

 grades. It is worth}' of special notice that these ground spiders, when 

 seeking aeronautic flight, take pains to seek some elevated spot as a point 

 of departure. This is not limited to the Lyeosids, for Mr. Enock speaks 



_____^_ of young Atypinse in Eng- 



land securing an easy and un- 

 obstructed flight in the same 

 way. The instinctive impulse 

 wliicli urges spiderlings to 

 leave their resorts on the 

 ground and seek spots essen- 

 tial for favorable ascent, cer- 

 tainly has the appearance of 

 reasoning intelligence. At all 

 events, the younglings, by 

 whatever process they reach 

 the conclusion, do the best 

 thing possible to aid their 

 ballooning enterprise. 



Example No. 1. A j'oung 

 Lycosid, apparently Lycosa 

 scutulata Hentz, was posed 

 on the side of a fence post 

 opposite the wind, face down- 

 wards, abdomen elevated, the 

 body raised by the legs. I 

 followed it after flight for two 

 hundred feet; it rose as high 

 Its flight was across a wide 

 Several threads were streaming 



Fig. 275. 



Ballooning Lyeosids ascending from a fence post, 

 and floating before the wind. 



as thirty feet before it was lost to sight, 

 meadow, and promised to be a long one. 

 out and up behind and before the spider. 



No. 2. A Saltigrade, probably the young of Astia vittata, was posed 

 on the side of a fence board opposite the wind. Its legs were elevated, 

 thus raising up the body ; the abdomen was turned well nigh straight 

 upward ; a long thread floated out and up from the spinnerets. The 

 spider walked several inches upward along the rail, keeping its body in 

 the same stilted position, the thread meanwhile flying. Then it was off, 

 rather slowly, and about on a line with my face. It showed, in motion, 

 one small thread in front and one (or more) behind. It moved straight 



