108 



AMICKU'AN Sl'IDIOKS AND TIIKIU sriNMXGWOKK. 



47, but I have usually been able to determine it, when fovuid without an 

 occupant, by the following features : The sheeted hub is not as large and the 

 tissue is not as thick, indeed it is sometimes expressed by only a faint puff, 

 or sinijily by a serraUd or nodulated cord, as at Fig. 99, i. In short, a well 

 delined shield seems to l)e a pei'manent characteristic of the Basket Argiope's 

 orb, while Bantlcd Argiope rather inclines to omit it or express it by zigzag 

 cords. These cords are often tinuwn in arcs around the hub as at Fig. 99, 

 ii and iii, and give a pretty and striking effect to the web. However, I niu.st 

 confess that my confidence in these distinctions is not very great ; and to 

 the untrained observer the diiferences between the two webs would liardly 

 be apparent. 



It is significant, as illu.strating the community and persistence of habit 

 in a genus, however widely separated, that a spider (Epeira mauritia Walck.) 



closely allied to our Argiope 

 argyraspis is found in the is- 

 lands of Mauritia, 

 Reunion, and Mada- 

 gascar (Africa), with 

 precisely the same 

 lialiits. ^"inson' describes the 

 snare of this araiiead with its 

 peculiar zigzag decorations, 

 with the X-like position of 

 the legs as she hangs upon 

 her snare, and the cocoon in 

 its site, in language which 

 might be used with ecpial pro- 

 priety of Argyraspis. With 

 slight change the figure of the 

 African Argiope as given by 

 A''inson miglit stand for a draw- 

 ing of our American sjiecies. 

 to be the Argiope argentata^ 



An Afri- 

 can Con 

 gener. 



Fiii. 100. A snare of Argiope argcnteola. 



A third 



Argiope 



argen- 



tata. 



winch appears 



al)undantly in the extreme Southwest of the 



species of Argiope, 

 of Koch, is found 



United States. 1 have many sjiecimens from Southern Califor- 

 nia, where it aliounds, spinning its large, beautiful webs every- 

 where in the neighborhood of San Diego. It extends .southward 

 through Mexico, is widely distributed thoughout the states of South Amer- 



' Araneides des Isles Rfeunion, &c., page XIII., 198, and Plate VIII., Fig. 2. 



^ Argiope argentatus, Koc-h, " Die Arachnidcn," t. 5, page 38, pi. 154, Fig. 360. Also 

 A. fenestrimis, id.. Fig. 155. The Epeini argentie (E. argentaUi) of AValckeiiaer, figured 

 PI. 18, Fig. 3, Atlas, Apt«res, is with little doubt the same spider or a dose variety 

 thereof. Vol. II., Apterfis, page 115. I fii'st introduced tills species to the Pliiladclphia .\cad. 

 Nat. Sci. as new under the name of Argiope argcnteola. It is possible that the spider will be 

 found specifically different from A. argenta wlien specimens can l)e had (or ccnnparisou. 



