PSCYHOLOGICAL NO FES UPON THE GALLERY 

 SPIDER — ILLUS fRATIONS OF INTELLIGENT 

 VARIATIONS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF. THE 

 WEB. 



By C. H. Turner. 



A I the suggestion of Professor C. L. Herrick, a great many 

 observations have been made upon the morp'iology of the gal- 

 lery webs. A partial summary ot the results of that study is 

 given in this paper. 



To facilitate description the different parts of the web have 

 been named. The main expanse of the web has been called the 

 main sheet. Ascending from the outer edge there is often a 

 more or less vertical portion. This has been called the guard 

 sheet The loose network of threads above the main sheet con- 

 stitutes the snares. The name gallery has been retained for the 

 hiding place of the spider. 



In the meadows, the web of the gallery spider is an irregu- 

 lar sheet, stretched from blade to blade of grass. There is no 

 general pattern to which they all conform. Not oi^ly the shape 

 of the web, but also the number of sides and proportions are 

 subject to great variation. The aim of the spider seems to be 

 to cover as much ground as possible. The gallery is usually 

 located at one extremity of the web ; but sometimes it penetrates 

 the main sheet from below and near its centre. If there is a 

 crack in the ground at that place, the gallery is usually located 

 in it. Occasionally the gallery is concealed beneath a stick or 

 leaf, but often it is merely hi iden in the grass. Numerous ob- 

 servations have been made upon these meadow webs ; but the 

 conditions are too uniform to yield much of psychological value. 

 But when the external environment becomes more heterogenous, 

 it is interesting to note how the spiders become masters of the 

 situation. 



Example I. — Location : bottom lands bordering on a 

 creek. 



Main sheet large, horizontal, irregular in outline, attached 

 to two logs and to the tops of several weeds. 



