166 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



The Arch 

 itect. 



A Con- 

 necting- 

 Link. 



to preserve its perfect form. Perhaps he would rise from the study with 

 a liigher appreciation of the quaUty and cliaracter of despised Arachne. 



Nor would he find the creature herself unworthy of admiration as she 

 hangs inverted within and just below the summit of the dome. The term 

 beautiful is rarely associated with individuals of her order, but it 

 may properly be used in this case. There is a combination of 

 crimson, various shades of green, yellow, snow white, and black 

 colors, which might prevent the most fastidious lady from raising the cry 

 of " horrid spider ! " against a creature bearing such delicate hues and 

 dwelling in such a fairylike domicile. However, the main point of interest 

 in the Basilica sjiider is neither its architectural skill nor its fair colors. 

 Its chief importance to the arachnologist is that it seems to form a j)crfect 



connecting link between the orbweaving 

 and lineweaving spiders, in the character- 

 istic spinningwork of the two tribes. 



In order to perceive this statement it is 

 necessary to recall what has been written in 

 tlic last chapter about certain Orbweavers 

 that make composite snares, as 

 for example, Epeira labyrinthea 

 and E. triaranea. These species, 

 it will be remembered, not only 

 spin the typical orbweb of the tribe to 

 which they belong, but combine therewith 

 a mass of right lines intersecting one an- 

 other in different planes and at various 

 angles, the whole coml)ination forming at 

 once the home and snare of the animal. 

 The maze is an exact retitelarian snare, as 

 has already been shown, and will be readily 

 recognized by any ordinary observer of the cobwebs, for the most part made 

 by Theridioids, which form the bulk of those infesting the angles of the 

 walls of our stables and outbuildings. Thus our first connecting link be- 

 tween the spinningwork of Orbweavers and Lineweavers is established at the 

 typical web of the latter, as shown in the snares of the family Theridioidse. 

 The second link, which itself constitutes in the web of the Basilica spider 

 a complete interblending of the groups, is seen at the snares of the Linyi»hi- 

 oida?. The genus Linyphia is one of the largest and most impor- 

 LinvDhia *'^'^^' ^^^^E the Lineweaving genera. In order to show the steps by 

 which the two groups approach each other in habits, some expla- 

 nation of the spinningwork of the Linyphians is necessary. Their web differs 

 from that of the Theridioids substantially in the addition of a sheetlike 

 web to the web of intersecting lines. Indeed, the lines take a subordinate 

 or subsidiary place, and the sheet a^jpears to be the real snare. There are 



Fig. 156. 



The bowl shaped web of Linyphia 

 communis. 



