120 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNING WORK. 



red raspberries, countless 'bushes of wild roses in full bloom, elder with 

 its white blossoms or purple fruit clusters, and many other flowering plants, 

 intermingled with weeds and grasses. This interesting bit of tangled plant 

 life is a favorite camping ground for innumerable spiders, among which I 

 found in August many of the leafy domiciles of Trifolium. 



This species lives from Maine southward ; I have found it in Massa- 

 chusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio ; and have specimens as far 

 to the northwest as Wisconsin. Dr. Marx's specimens carry her range to 

 Bismarck (Dakota), Minnesota, Colorado, and Wyoming. Its distribution is 

 probably coterminous with that of Insularis although possibly more limited 

 southward. Trifolium closely resembles the European Epeira quadrata both 

 in appearance and habit. It is not at all unlikely that they may be regarded 

 by future students as simply varieties of one species. There is indeed a very 

 close relation between these two species and Epeira marmorea, and the entire 

 trio might without violence be classified as varieties of Epeira quadrata 

 Clerck. 



Among various species sent me from California is one which I have 



heretofore described as Epeira vertebrata. 1 It is evidently a very common 



species on the Pacific coast, judging by the number of repre- 



Lra sentatives always found among collections from that quarter, 

 brata ^ ^ ew nc ^ es as ^ ^ s habits were sent to- me by Mrs. Eigen- 

 mann ; but a fortunate event enabled me to study the species 

 on my own premises. Mrs. Smith sent me from San Diego, in the month 

 of May, 1888, a number of cocoons from which hatched out a vast colony 

 of young. These I placed in an arbor in the manse yard, hoping that 

 they might there become domesticated. 



I was surprised to see how slow they were in leaving the home nest, 

 clinging fast to the cocoon, and then in little clusters above it for more 

 than a month. I left my home for a summer vacation on the 8th of 

 July, at which time the young Vertebrates were still hanging in clusters 

 and apparently had not grown a particle. I returned September 1st, and 

 found five full grown specimens, all females, comfortably domiciled in dif- 

 ferent parts of the yard on honeysuckle and ampelopsis vines. Three of 

 them were quite near each other, within a few feet of the spot where 

 the cocoons hung. Other individuals may have migrated into adjoining 

 premises, but these five remained with me and gave me quite full knowl- 

 .edge of their spinningwork. The following year a number of young 

 appeared, and it is not improbable that the species may become perma- 

 nently fixed in this section. 



Its snares are identical with those of the Domicile spider, and in 

 its general habit it differs little from that species. It occupies a leafy 

 nest for much of the time, but not so persistently as Insularis and Tri- 



1 Proceedings Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 1887, page 342. 



