CHAPTER III. 

 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ORBWEAVERS' SNARES. 



THE so-called " geometric web" which one sees in art work and book 

 illustrations has no place in nature. Were that taken as the standard one 

 would decide that there is little need of comparison, and no room for 

 classification, since in the books no more differences exist among Orb- 

 weavers' snares than might be found in the four wheels of a wagon. 



FIG. 47. A vertical snare, full orbed. Snare of Argiope cophinaria. 



Unfortunately our artists, and indeed the same is largely true of natural- 

 ists as concerns cobwebs, are too much intent upon general effects to attend 

 to such small details as variations in the web architecture of a spider. 

 As common a figure as is the wheel shaped snare of the Orbweaver, I re- 

 member but one which gave proof of having been drawn from a natural 



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