PREFACE. 



In the second volume I shall take up and treat in the same way the 

 habits and industry associated with mating and maternal instincts, the 



life of the young, the distribution of species, and other general 

 Plan of habits indicated in the appended table of contents. The third 

 II and III ^'olume of the series will be a systematic presentation of the 



Orbweavers of the United States, and this I hope to make toler- 

 abh' complete. The descrii:)tions .will be accompanied by a number of 

 plates drawn in the best style of lithographic art, and painted by hand in 

 the colors of nature. 



The above plan is the result of an entire change in my original pur- 

 pose, which was to write a natural history of all American spiders, following 

 consecutively and separately the several tribes, beginning with the Orb- 

 . . weavers. A vast amount of material has been gathered with 



Plan *^'^ purpose in view, but I have found that the " work thus 



marked out is so great that I doubt my ability to accomplish it 

 all. For, even should my life be sufficiently lengthened to overtake the 

 entire field mapped out, the expense of the undertaking appears to be an 

 imijassable barrier. I liave, therefore, concluded to introduce, in the com- 

 parative way referred to, such notes of tribes, other than Orbweavers, as 

 seemed most desirable and important for solution of the various problems 

 which have arisen as my studies progressed. Thus, while the Orbweavers 

 are treated fully, the natural history of all otlier tribes of our spider fauna 

 comes well into view. Although I confess some regret at the abandonment 

 of the original plan, I am confident that most naturalists will agree with 

 me that the present treatment adds to the value of the volumes now pub- 

 lished, and is, perhaps, after all the best that could have been adopted. 



There is another point at which tliis work departs from my original 

 plan. As my observations have especially traversed the spinning habits of 



spiders, it seemed important to make a careful study of the spin- 

 Study of ning organs, not only of Orbweavers, but of all other spider 

 Ore-ans tribes. It was thought that such a comparative study would not 



only give valuable hints in the sj'stematic determination of the 

 animals, but would have an especial bearing upon the variations in spin- 

 ning habit. It was inferred that there must be some connection between 

 special function and the organs thereof. In this line work was begun and 

 prosecuted far enough to see how promising and interesting is the field. 

 But a severe attack of sickness, whose consequences were felt for several 

 years, compelled an entire cessation of work with the dissecting knife and 

 microscope. I was, therefore, reluctantly compelled to omit from the open- 

 ing chapters much material which I had hoped to present, and to limit 

 my illustrations to the few which are really necessary to give the reader a 

 correct idea of the structure of the spinning organs and the manner in 

 which the spinning material of spiders is formed. Even these illustrations 

 I have borrowed in part from others. I venture to express the hope that 



