386 . AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



great group of our indigenous spider fauna represented in broken cells. 

 The most numerous are Orbweavers, many species of which I have col- 

 lected from mud daubs. 



It is, however, true that in the gatherings of any individual wasp there 

 is apt to be a preponderance of a single species of spider. Thus it would 

 seem that a wasp starting out with Epeira strix, for example, is apt to 

 devote herself chiefly to collecting that particular species. So with other 

 species. Can it be that the mode of capturing her first victim, itself some- 

 what a matter of chance, so impresses itself upon the " brain " of the wasp 

 that she almost mechanically drops into the same mode for subsequent 

 capture, and thus finds herself habitually hunting along the trail of the 

 domicile and hiding place uncovered in her first capture ? 



Next to Orbweavers, Laterigrades perhaps have been oftenest found 

 by me in mud daubs. The species most frequently seen is the large yel- 

 low, white, or variegated species, Misumena vatia, which lurks for its prey 

 on flowers, the mimicry of whose colors (see Chapter XII.) seems, in this 

 case, not to be a "protective" resemblance. Here again, where this spider 

 is found it usually predominates, as though the wasp, making her original 

 capture upon the habitual feeding grounds of the species, had gained 

 what might be called an " experience " and followed in the lines of her 

 first finds. 



I find some confirmation of my own impression in the opinion ex- 

 pressed by Mr. John Abbot, who observed the habits of American spiders 

 in Georgia as early as 1792. He says that wasps generally confine their 

 hawking to one species, when in search of spiders with which to store 

 their mud daub nests. 1 



If we now turn from the more arboreal species to those which during 

 the day will be found chieflj' upon their webs, we shall observe a strong 

 tendency in the same general line of habit. That vigorous and destructive 

 Retitelarian, Theridium tepidariorum, so common in our outhouses, when 

 found within a mud daub will be the prevailing species. Such Orbweavers 

 as Argiope argyraspis, Tetragnatha extensa, Epeira labyrinthea, or Argy- 

 roepeira hortorum, which habitually hang upon their webs and must be 

 thence seized by the raiding wasp, I have found subject to the same gen- 

 eral tendency. It is needless further to multiply examples. I disclaim 

 the purpose of indicating here an inflexible conclusion, or even one sus- 

 tained by satisfactory evidence. But the facts which have fallen under 

 my notice do justify one, if not in inferring, at least in suggesting, what 

 future observers may find worthy of careful study. The line of inquiry 

 certainly points along fields full of interest. 



A brief reference to some of the special characteristics of a few of the 

 spider species preyed upon by the mud dauber wasps will give a better 



1 NValekenaer, Hist. Nat. d^s Insectes, Aptcros, Vol. I., page 174. 



