WEAVERS OF ROUND WEBS. 129 



Another European species, Meta meriauEe, approaches in the general trend 

 of its habits our Meta menardi. This spider is found in the corners and 

 windows of outhouses, verandas, and greenhouses, also under overhanging 

 banks and rocks, and in other damp, dark situations. This quite accurately 

 describes the habit of our Meta menardi. I have found the webs at the 

 foot of the Allegheny Mountains in Central Pennsylvania, quite generally in 

 dark and shady positions. Indeed, I collected quite a number of species 

 within Sinking Spring Cave. These had established their snares 

 p from one to two hundred feet from the opening of the cavern, 



and had swung them against the face of the rocky sides. From 

 the point at which I collected the spiders, I could see the mouth of the cave, 

 which is not large, and beyond it the dim light of the ravine through which 

 it is approached. But no light penetrated to the sj^ot, at least not enough 

 to make it possible for me to collect specimens or examine the snares. My 

 observations were made by the light of a torch. I found a few specimens 

 in sheltered positions outside the mouth of the cave. It is probable that 

 the spiders drifted within the cavern wlien they were young, or may have 

 floated within it upon the waters of the stream that enters it. But it is 

 evident that a location within such a darkened domicile is agreeable to this 

 aranead, and a tendency to this liabit is manifestly a characteristic of the 

 genus Meta. 



According to Emerton Meta menardi lives in caves and otlier damp 



and shady places in New England, and he reports specimens obtained from 



caves in Kentucky and Virginia. ^ It is thus manifest that through 



ovmg ^ wide extent of territory, the habits of the species preserve the 

 Darkness. ... 



same characteristics. 



Blackwall describes the species under Walckenaer's name, Ejieira fusca.^ 

 Emerton, following Thorell, accepts the specific name menardi of Latreille.^ 

 If, therefore, we accept the American and European species as substantially 

 the same, we shall find that this tendency to seek oljscure places characterizes 

 both the American and the European species. Blackwall .says that in 

 North Wales the principal haunts of the species are caves, cellars, over- 

 hanging banks, and other obscure places.* 



' "New England Epeiridpe," Transactions Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

 Vol. VI., iiage 328. 



- Hist. Nat. dt'S Insect. Aiit. ViA. II., page 84. 

 ' Gen. Crust, et Insect. Vol. I., page 108. 

 ■• Spiders of Great Britain, page 259. 



