COMPOSITE SNARES AND SECTORAL ORBS. 



1 ^7 



Free 

 Radius. 



great numliers on the lattice work and open slats of the corn cribs and 

 other outhouses of farms. In the last named site very many young spiders 

 were seen in the first week of .June, having but recently issued from the 

 cocoon. They were distributed along the lattice work for several yards, 

 forming a goodly colony. As late as June 21st a similar colony was found 

 in like position, the spiders being from one-haK to two-thirds grown. In 

 .July and August I found many individuals located within the interstices 



of a stone fence near tlie 

 seashore, at Cape Ann, 

 Massachusetts. 



Triaranea persistently 

 makes a web with an 

 open sector and 

 free radius, that 

 is, a prolonged 

 line not crossed by viscid 

 beads, which, although it 

 may occupy 

 the position 

 of a radius, 

 is free from 

 the general 

 radial sys- 

 tem. Exam- 

 ples occasionally occur, 

 particularly among adult 

 webs, in which the spi- 

 rals entirely cover the 

 orb space, but the gen- 

 eral habit is otherwise. 

 Among young Triaraneas 

 I have very rarely no- 

 ticed such an exception. 

 For example, in the col- 



Fifi. 122. Epeira 

 triaranea (glo- 

 bosaj. 



Fig. 121. Tent and sectoral orb of Epeira triaranea. 



ony just alluded to I counted consecutively fifty-two snares, every one of 

 which had the free radius. The same fact was true of the colony of June 

 6th. In these young webs the radius was always entirely free, with four 

 exceptions, in three of which there was one thread stretched across the 

 opening near the top of the web, and in the other case there were two 

 lines so placed. 



Occasionally I have found a colony in which the tendency to a full 

 orb was much stronger than usual. One such was noticed at Niantic, 

 Connecticut. In the interstices of a stone wall bordering the beach of 

 Niantic Bay, on the country seat of one of my brothers, many Triaraneas 



