168 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



Orbitelariffi is vertical, but the corresponding section of the web of the Bas- 

 ilica spider, Fig. 13, d d, might be properly described as horizontal, or 

 rather as a blending of the horizontal with the vertical. In other 

 Linked words, if a horizontal orb attaclicd at the circumference in the 

 usual way were to be lifted up by a thread fastened in the centre, 

 it would assume the shape of the dome in the web of the Basil- 

 ica spider. In point of fact, this effect might be produced from the charac- 

 teristic snares of those sjiecies which have been dcscril)cd in the opening of 

 this chapter. If, for example, one were to fasten a thread to the central 

 point of the orb of Tetragnatha or the Orchard spider, and gradually lift 

 it until the orb should assume the dome shape, he would have a snare very 

 strongly resembling that of Basilica. The principal difference would be (hat 

 the apron of intersecting lines beneath the dome of the Orcliard spider ap- 

 pears in Basilica's web as the underlying curtain ; and in addition thereto 

 a similar mass of spinningwork a^jpears above the orb. Another difference 

 is that the spiral concentrics all have the notched appearance of the few 

 central concentrics which compose what I have named the notched zone. 



Several years after I had observed and published the description of Bas- 

 ilica's web and its relations, substantially as described above, I was greatly 

 delighted to have my study confirmed by the observations of Dr. 

 Observa- Qporge Marx, of Washington, D. C. He had received my ac- 

 „ , count witli much skepticism, as indeed did other arachnologists. 

 Unfortunately, my description of this entirely new form of orb- 

 web, and the remarkable deduction therefrom, were based upon observations 

 of a single example both of spinningwork and sjiider making it. 1 iiad no 

 doubt of the accuracy of my notes and sketches, which were nunle with 

 care and painstaking, for at the first glance I apprehended the imi)ortance 

 of the discovery. Nevertheless, I greatly desired to find other examjiles, 

 but searched in vain in the neighborhood of my camp.^ 



It was, therefore, with unusual satisfaction that I learned from Dr. 

 Marx that he had observed several specimens of Basilica in the shrubbery 

 on tlie beautiful parked grounds surrounding the Agricultural Department 

 and other public buildings of the national capital. He confirmed my de- 

 scription of the character of the web, and added thereto an obsiT- 



,,^^^^"^ vation of the manner in which the dome is reared. The hy])o- 

 the Dome. , . , . . • • , ^ .i • i • i 



tlieticai case, given in my orignuu paper, ot tlie maimer m wliieh 



the domed orb of Basilica might be (substantially) erected out of the hori- 

 zontal orb of the Orchard spider, proved to be a fortunate anticipation of 

 the exact method of the spider. Dr. Marx says that the orb is at tirst a 



' I li;i(l gone to Texas with ;i spei-ial |>ui-|misc, luiiiiely, tlio study of tlic .Vgricultural 

 Ants; anil it wa.s absolutely necessary, in order to follow my line of study and experiments, 

 that I should limit the time given to other observations. I have often regretted that I 

 could not have spent a day or two in searching the surrounding district for other exam])le8 

 of Basilica. 



