AIICHITECTIKK OK ALST1:ALIa\ ARANKID^ — KAI^•150^V. 333 



Among oi-b-weavers, to wliicli this group of spiders belongs, 

 tliere are very distinct types, and tlieir webs are ecpially so. 

 .Some of the latter are horizontal or slightly oblique and others 

 perpendicular. The horizontal and oblique orbicular webs are 

 almost invariably tlie work of species included in this sub family. 

 When a web is oblique, it is due to the nature of its surroundings. 

 Tetragnathid snares are usually constructed over narrow running 

 streams and creeks; hence, in the event of one bank being lower 

 than the other, the natural result would be an oblique web. 

 Although tlie species appear to prefer the neighbourhood of water, 

 including not only creeks and water-holes, but also swampy areas, 

 they may nevertheless be found at times considerable distances 

 away, so that it is no uncommon experience for the collector to 

 find a Tetragnathid spider and its snare among coarse herbage. 

 When alarmed these spiders will sometimes simply drop from the 

 web, and hang b}' a thread of silk in mid-air. Thus suspended 

 the creature looks like a bit of stick ; at other times they scuttle 

 away fiom their webs with great rapidity and seek shelter among 

 neighljouring plants and bushes. Upon these they rest, secure 

 from persecution, owing to their colouration. Their long" cylin- 

 (h'ical bodies, and still longer attenuated legs, add to their 

 protection. A Tetragnathid when concealing itself upon a shrub 

 or coarse grass stretches itself along the stem upon which it has 

 sought refuge. Hei-e, with its body closely adpressed, its first and. 

 second pairs of legs stretched well forward, and the third and 

 fourth pairs as carefully directed backwards, it rests in perfect 

 security. When reposing at the centre of the web, the position 

 just described is maintained, with the exception that the legs are 

 not stretched quite so straight, noV are the}' j^laced quite so closely 

 together. The webs of Tetragnathinie consist of the usual 

 outer lines and guys which go to make the framework, and which 

 are, of course, attached to plants, rocks, posts and the like upon 

 the banks, or between clumps of reeds growing in the water. 

 From the outer lines the radii extend towards the centre or 

 " hub " , the latter is open, and consists of a series of notched' 

 concentric lines, and these form a group by themselves. Beyond 

 the hub there is a free space, and then a further series of larger 

 and more widely separated concentric lines. The number of radii 

 and concentrics varies somewhat, but the principle of construction 

 is always the same. As a rule there are from eighteen to twenty- 

 four radii, eight to fourteen concentrics, and five or six notched 

 lines in the hub. The cocoon of T. cyhndrlca is round, about a, 

 quarter of an inch in diameter, fine and closely ^\ oven, whit(! with 

 green tufts ; it is invariably fixed to some object near the web. 

 Tn connection with the species just quoted, it is interesting to- 



