ORANGE ARGIOPE 



model of that "winding stair" which in the verses of 

 old-time reading-books led to "the dismal den" of that 

 toucliing ballad, "The Spider and the Fly." 



Argiope herself you will know by the orange-yellow 

 pattern of circular and irregular spots upon her vel- 

 vety-black abdomen, and her orange and black legs out- 

 stretched from her gray trunk. In fact, were she to 

 receive an up-to-date name, instead of that of Argiope 

 aurentiiim, her colors would well justify calling her Argi- 

 ope Princetoniensis; and thus better even than the 

 famous "tiger" she might symbolize the athletes of the 

 " orange and black " ! 



But the garden is not her favorite hamit. She hears 

 the call of the wild. Like a true pioneer, she thrives 

 better outside the belt of highest culture. In yonder 

 fallow fields that embosom our Brookcamp and Devon 

 Runs and the upper waters of the Darby Creek you will 

 find her in October or the closing days of September. 

 She conies to her maturity in the maturing season of 

 the year; but during the summer months you will 

 find the snares of immature specimens hmig, at times, 

 cheek by jowl with the almost equally pretty webs of 

 their congener, Argiope argyraspis, the Silvery Argiope. 

 Here is one individual housed within a tuft of tall grasses 

 whose feathery tops she has banded together with silken 

 ligatures, and whereon by-and-by she will hang her 

 egg-nest. Downward thence she has stretched her web 

 where it is sure to ensnare frisking grasshoppers that 

 thrive here undisturbed. 



Hard by another orb is woven between the stalks of a 

 cluster of wild chrysanthemums whose white flowers 

 make a dainty bower above her. A third spinder has 

 chosen the drooping heads of twin stems of golden-rod 



^7 243 



