350 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



some cases, as in the web of a species of Dictyna which abounds in Phila- 

 delphia and vicinity, and everywhere spins upon our walls and fences, this 

 peculiar snare takes upon it, in a rude way, the outlines (Fig. 343) and even 

 in greater detail the general form of an orb, as may be seen by consulting 

 Fig. 344. In other words, this wall loving spider starts from its little tubu- 

 lar nesting place and drags its lines out to surrounding adjacent points. 

 Between these lines it then extends its tlocculeut thread, carrying it down- 

 ward to the circumference and backwards again towards the centre, and 

 so back and forth, until, as we have said, the rude outline of an orbweb 

 is formed. 



Now, it is of interest to know that among the Orbweavers we have two 



well defined families who are provided with the calamistnnn and cribellum, 



and spin the same kind of a thread as that just described. 



Orb- Hyptiotes, or the Triangle spider, makes a web whose four di- 



weaver s 



„ , verging lines, with their interlacing flocculent spiral, might very 

 Snirals ^^^'^ ^^ represented by a section taken from the web of Clubiona 

 or Dictyna. We are not able to trace a close relation between 

 these two families, along any structural lines (apart from the cribellum 

 and calamistrum), but the relation between their spinningwork is very ap- 

 parent. 



Yet, further, we have among the Orbweavers the family Uloborinie, 

 whose species construct an exact orbicular snare, in every essential respect 

 resembling the snare of such Orbweavers as the Orchard spider (Argyro- 

 epeira hortorum) or the Extended spider (Tetragnatha extensa), except 

 that the spirals have the teased or flocculent characteristic of Clubiona, 

 instead of the viscid beaded armature common with Orbweaving species. 

 Thus our sectoral snare of Hyptiotes with its flocculent spiral lines has 

 become a complete orb ; or, in other words, the circular sector appears as 

 a full circle, retaining its flocculent interradials. 



It is interesting here to note, that while the Triangle spider, on the 

 one hand, is connected with the Tubeweavers by this peculiar flocculent 

 thread, and, on the other hand with the species that spin full 

 The Ray ^^^^ ]^y ^j^g same characteristic thread, it is connected with the 

 ^?^ ®'"® Orbitelarise at another point by the interesting species known as 

 the Ray spider. That is to say, the Ray spider has the viscid 

 armature common to the Epeiroids, and its snare is arranged in orbicular 

 form, like that of Uloborus and other Orbweavers. But, strangely, the 

 various sectors of the circle are so combined that they can be managed 

 wholly or in i)art in the same peculiar manner which characterizes the 

 Triangle spider. That is to say, the trapline is held with a coil of slack 

 thread above the two hind feet, and the various sectors of the circular 

 webs are snapped off separately or unitetlly by the same spring movement 

 that marks Hyptiotes, and which is fully described in Chapters XII. and 

 XIII. 



