NESTING HABITS AND PROTECTIVE ARCHITECTURE. 



303 



Closely related to Zilla in the character of its snare is Epeira thaddeus, 

 but in this species the nest making habit appears to be more strongly de- 

 veloped. It may often be found nested in the angle of a door 

 or window, or other like situation, 



Nest of 



Epeira 



thaddeus. 



on the outhouses of farms and 



Fig. 278. Cylindrical nest of Epeira thad- 

 deus, spun in the angle of a door. 



rui'al buildings. Here it spins a 

 white silken tube of close texture, which is 

 generally a quite exact cylinder. In this 

 respect it differs from the nests of Zilla and 

 Epeira triaranea, which are almost habitually 

 in the shape of an inverted bowl or dome. 

 The cylindrical tent of Thaddeus varies in 

 length from three-fourths of an inch to one 

 and one-quarter inch, the latter being the 

 length of the nest represented at Fig. 278. 

 The cylinder is stayed by a series of lines 

 attached to it at various parts and stretched 

 to numerous points in the surrounding sur- 

 face, thus holding it intact. Within the cylinder Thaddeus sits holding 

 her trapline, through which all agitation upon her sectoral orb is com- 

 municated. 



She has learned, however, the value of screening her cylindrical tent 

 beneath a shelter of clustered leaves, as at Fig. 280. In this case the leaves 

 are agglutinated by threads spun upon the inside or sewed upon the out- 

 side, precisely as in the case of the Insular and Shamrock spiders. 



I have found this cylindrical nest spun within the needle like leaves 

 of the pine tree, and the manner in which it was stayed, and preserved in 

 sufficiently rigid attitude for the practical uses of its occupant, was a good 

 example of the ingenuity of this species. (Fig. 279.) In the above ex- 

 amples the nest is visible by the observer, but at other times it is wholly 

 screened from view, being spun beneath and within the concave surfaces 



of two attached leaves whose edges have 

 been sewed together, and the entire shelter 

 stayed by means of lines stretched to ad- 

 joining leaves and the common stem. If 

 the stay threads be cut and the leaf turned 

 back, the cylindrical nest will be seen in- 

 side as represented at Fig. 280. 



Again the cylindrical tent of Thaddeus 

 will be woven underneath a cluster of sev- 

 eral leaves (Fig. 281), which overarch it like a rounded roof, making a 

 pretty and effective shelter. Beneath this dome the silken cylinder may 

 be seen projecting, the external end stayed by lines fastened to adjoining 

 leaves, and the trapline stretched out taut to the centre, or the sectoral 



Fig. 279. Cylindrical nest of Thaddeus in 

 pine leaves. 



