128 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



In the same group with Acrosoma, among the spiders having an open 

 hub and vertical snare, may be placed Cyclosa caudata or the "Tailed 

 Spider," and her closely related congener of Florida, Cyclosa bifurca. The 

 snares of this species are never very large. They are hung, as a rule, 

 within a system of secondary foundation lines, as represented in Fig. Ill, 

 thus giving them, as with Acrosoma, a considerable degree of elasticity. 

 The spirals of the notched zone, instead of clustering close around the 

 hub, wind through the free space, and the number of radii and beaded 

 spirals is usually very large. The hub in the normal condition is open, 

 and the spider may be found hanging therein with its feet attached to a 

 ribboned string which extends upward through the free zone. The ribbon 

 runs below the hub as w r ell as above it, and the two bands are fre- 

 quently connected by an irregular strip of spinning work, thus giving the 

 hub the appearance of being meshed or even sheeted. It is, However, 

 properly placed with the group with open hubs, to which I have here 

 assigned it. 



A striking peculiarity of the Tailed spider is to attach her cocoons to a 

 line extending upward from the hub to the circumference of the orb. In 

 accomplishing this the surrounding spiral lines and sometimes one 

 or two of the radii are cut away, giving to the snare the appearance 

 of the sectoral orb made by Zilla. This, however, is simply an 

 accident of the cocooning habit. The species has also the custom of hang- 

 ing flossy pellets of silk upon her orb at various points ; and these are 

 often to be found mingled with the remains of devoured insects. This 

 habit is common among very young specimens of Caudata. In the mature 

 spiders the detritus of insect remains is attached to the cocoon. This habit 

 is considered at length in Vol. II. in connection with Maternal Instincts and 

 Industry. I have occasionally seen similar nodules placed upon the snare of 

 Acrosoma rugosa, but the habit does not appear to be fixed in that species, but 

 in Caudata it is permanently established. 



The genus Meta has its chief representative in the geographical district of 



Philadelphia, and indeed throughout the Eastern United States, in the species 



Meta menardi. The snare of Meta does not differ from the full 



6 a ,. orb webs of Epeira. Meta segmentata of Europe, according to 



Cambridge 1 invariably spins her orbicular snare at an inclination 



to the plane of the earth ; he had never found one extended perpendicularly. 



The hub of the orb is open, in this respect approximating the snares 



of the spiders which make horizontal webs. Like Tetragnatha extensa, 



it has the habit of extending the first and second pairs of legs in a line 



with the body. This species is quite catholic in the selection of its orb 



site, as there is scarcely a conceivable situation among herbage, bushes, 



heather, on heaths and commons, where it may not be found. 



1 "Spiders of Dorset," Vol. II., ]>age 241. 



