﻿JAMBUNATHAN] life history of social spider 3^7 



Eour and two, lie in a black spot in front of the head, while the other 

 row- arc a little behind with their laces directed rather towards the 

 sides of the animal. Thus the spider can sec objects in front as well 

 as at the Mdcs. The falces are black, pointing downwards, with 

 the curved claws working sidewise. 



In almost everything except in size and palpal organs, the male 

 resembles the female, and although the male is the smaller, the 

 measurements of the two do not show him to be the dwarfed indi- 

 vidual found in many species of spiders. In place of the black 

 streaks and stripes of the female, we meet with brown ones in the 

 male. 



As already mentioned, the prickly pear hushes appear to be the 

 favorite resort of these spiders, though sometimes the branches of 

 some other thorny plants arc preferred. A whole tree may be so 

 covered with the nests, that the leaves are hardly visible. I have 

 also found these nests on tops of hills. If built on the prickly pear, 

 the leaves serve as bases or floorings. If on the ends of branches 

 of trees, the leaves serve as partition walls or roofs for their silken 

 dwelling, which is plastered and cemented by means of woven 

 threads. In every case the refuse of their food serves as a con- 

 venient substance for thickening the walls of their nest. 



The web is arranged in longitudinal and zig-zag lines. If it is to 

 be a horizontal sheet, a main line is made of the finest, strongest, 

 yellowish silk-like threads with a lustre all their own. This main 

 line is laid by the joint labor of six or seven spiders moving over the 

 line a number of times, thus thickening it. and making it not one 

 thread but a bundle of threads. Other lines are laid, connecting 

 with this main line in all directions. These may be of fewer threads, 

 yet strong enough for their purpose. Having now finished the 

 warp lines of the web, the process of regular weaving is begun. 

 The spiders settling at different places begin to spin out their thick, 

 smoke-like, sticky threads and to lay them as connecting lines for 

 their web. The method of drawing out the thread is unique in the 

 spider world. In almost all the web-builders the sticky threads as 

 well as the non-sticky ones come out as the spider moves from one 

 line to another, a method which may not be possible here, these 

 spiders using their hind pair of legs, which are then seen moving in 

 quick succession rubbing against the spinnerets. The threads so 

 taken are laid without any regard to either precision or symmetry, 

 the only object being somehow to fill the space and make a net. 

 These transverse sticky lines, being eminently elastic, can be drawn 

 out to ten times their ordinary length. While there is work to be 



