116 



AMEKICAX Sl'lDEKS AND THEIR SPINNINGWOKK. 



Closely n'liited to Sclopctaria is Ww well known species Epeira patagiata. 



It is distributed throughout Europe, and is one of the common species of 



Syria. Its round snares must have been familiar objects to the 



. . , ancient Palestinian proj^hets, and are as likely as any other to 



have suggested the several Scriptural metaphors drawn from the 



spider's web. It is an abundant species in parts of the United States, 



especially in New England along the seashore, and in the Adirondacks 



and northern sections of New York. I have studied its habits and spin- 



ningwork in these parts, and find that they differ in no respect from those 



of Sclopctaria. I have little doul)t that tlie two spiders are one species, 



and indeed one finds it ditHcult to separate them into 



even two well defined varieties. 



Epeira benjamina Walck., the Domicile Spider 

 (Ej)eira domiciliorum, of Hentz), has a very wide dis- 

 tribution. Hentz found it in Alabama; Era- 



„ . ., erton in New England ; I have collected it 

 Uomicile . 1 • /- 



Spider ^'^ Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Canada, New- 

 York, Ohio, New Jersey ; and Mr. Peck- 

 liam in Wisconsin. Dr. Mar.x has specimens extending 

 Udrtliward and westward from Rhode Island, through 

 Miiuu'sota, Nebraska, Colorado, to Spring Lake, Utah; 

 and southwest as far as Fort tlraham, Texas. It thus 

 lias been traced over the entire United States to the 

 Pocky Mountains. In Colorado it has a vertical dis- 

 tribution of 12,000 feet. In the South, Hentz says 

 that she is often found in dark jilaces, and even spins 

 her web in dark apartments not much frequented. I 

 never found the species, though abundant in this 

 latitude, in any such sites — but usually upon bushes 

 and trees, in yards and woods, connnonly bright and 

 sunny places. In one case I found several adult fe- 

 males hanging upon tlieir large webs, which were spread against a frame 

 house, in the full blaze of a September sun. They kept the position 

 throughout the entire day. Such a difference in habit is certainly note- 

 worthy. After a heavy summer shower I once found two webs of this spe- 

 cies temporarily marked by what is a quite fixed characteristic of the webs of 

 Argioi)e. (Fig. 105.) Below the hub the notched zone was crossed 

 by a disk of thick, sheeted silk which extended downward be- 

 tween two of the radii, uniting them. A similar band united 

 two of the radii aV)Ove the hub. I conjectured that these had 

 been thrown out from the spinnerets to strengthen the web 

 against the weight of the rain ; or as a protection, a sort of 

 umbrella, between the spider hanging on the side toward the bush and 

 the shower driving from the opposite quarter. Several specimens of Epeira 



Fig. 105. Temporary ribbon 

 central of Epeira domicili- 

 orum. 



Tempo- 

 rary 

 Ribbon 

 Decora- 

 tions. 



