108 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



An Afri- 

 can Con- 

 gener. 



47, but I have usually been able to determine it, when found without an 

 occupant, by the following features : The sheeted hub is not as large and the 

 tissue is not as thick, indeed it is sometimes expressed by only a faint puff, 

 or simply by a serrated or nodulated cord, as at Fig. 99, i. In short, a well 

 defined shield seems to be a permanent characteristic of the Basket Argiope's 

 orb, while Banded Argiope rather inclines to omit it or express it by zigzag 

 cords. These cords are often thrown in arcs around the hub as at Fig. 99, 

 ii and iii, and give a pretty and striking effect to the web. However, I must 

 confess that my confidence in these distinctions is not very great; and to 

 the untrained observer the differences between the two webs would hardly 

 be apparent. 



It is significant, as illustrating the community and persistence of habit 

 in a genus, however widely separated, that a spider (Epeira mauritia Walck.) 



closely allied to our Argiope 

 argyraspis is found in the is- 

 lands of Mauritia, 

 Reunion, and Mada- 

 gascar (Africa), with 

 precisely the same 

 habits. Vinson 1 describes the 

 snare of this aranead with its 

 peculiar zigzag decorations, 

 with the X-like position of 

 the legs as she hangs upon 

 her snare, and the cocoon in 

 its site, in language which 

 might be used with equal pro- 

 priety of Argyraspis. With 

 slight change the figure of the 

 African Argiope as given by 

 Vinson might stand for a draw- 

 ing of our American species. 

 A third species of Argiope, which appears to be the Argiope argentata 2 

 of Koch, is found abundantly in the extreme Southwest of the 

 Argiope United States. I have many specimens from Southern Califor- 

 nia, where it abounds, spinning its large, beautiful webs every- 

 where in the neighborhood of San Diego. It extends southward 

 through Mexico, is widely distributed thoughout the states of South Amer- 



1 Araneides des Isles Reunion, &c., page XIII., 198, and Plate VIII., Fig. 2. 



2 Argiope argentatus, Koch, "Die Arachniden," t. 5, page 38, pi. 154, Fig. 3(50. Also 

 A. fenestrinus, id., Fig. 155. The Epeira argentic (E. argentata) of Walckenaer, figured 

 PI. 18, Fig. 3, Atlas, Apteres, is with little doubt the same spider or a close variety 

 thereof. Vol. II., Apteres, page 115. I first introduced this species to the Philadelphia Acad. 

 Nat. Sci. as new under the name of Argiope argenteola. It is possible that the spider will be 

 found specifically different from A. argenta when specimens can be had for comparison. 



10 



FIG. 100. A snare of Argiope argenteola. 



argen- 

 tata. 



