THE RAY SPIDER AND HER SNARE. 



199 





Figs. 187 and 189, at the point where the rays converge, grasping the axes 

 with the four hind feet. She has the posterior part of her abdomen 

 toward her snare, thus reversing the attitude of all her tribe. Moreover, 

 her back is turned upward. The two front feet seize the trapline and 

 draw it taut. Then, precisely as a sailor pulls upon a rope, " hand over 

 hand," the little arachnid's feet move along the trap- 

 line, one over another. As she moves, going, of course, 

 away from her net, the axes of the rays, 



held firmly in the Mnd feet ' foll W her ' the 

 'centre of the snare bears inward, the other 



parts are stretched taut, and the web at last has taken 

 the form of a cone or funnel as at Figs. 190, 191. 

 In this position the snares continually suggested an 

 umbrella with ribs reversed by the wind and the cov- 

 ering stripped loose from the top of the handle. Fig. 

 190 gives a side view of the web when thus bowed or 

 drawn taut ; another snare is shown at Fig. 191, as seen 

 from behind. These snares were located within cavi- 

 ties formed by the dropping away of stones from the 

 ruined dam breast in which they were first discovered. 



FIG. 192. Ray spider seat- 

 ed upon her foot basket, 

 back upward. 



In the example shown at Fig. 191 the spider has moved quite down 

 the trapline to the surface of the little twig projecting into the cavity to 

 which it is attached. It will thus be seen that the snare is more or less 

 a plane surface, or more or less conical, according to the position of the 

 animal upon the trapline and the degree of tension thereof. 



II. 



When an insect strikes the snare, the spider has two modes of operat- 

 ing. The first somewhat resembles that of the ordinary 

 Orb weaver, in that the insect is simply permitted to en- 

 tangle itself, and is then taken, swathed, re- 



^ turned to the centre, and eaten. There is. 

 tne bnare. 



however, this difference : before the spider goes 



to the insect, the axes of the snare are twisted or knotted 

 by a rotary action of her body and movement of the 

 legs, so that the parts of the orb unbroken by the captive 

 remain taut. Fig. 188 represents a snare thus " locked," 

 or, perhaps I might more properly say, " keyed." The 

 trapline is now relaxed, although its elasticity is such 

 FIG. 193. Position on that the change can scarcely be noticed. The spider 

 foot basket with head then moves upon her victim, quite habitually cutting out 



bent downward. i -i -i 



the spirals with her mandibles as she goes, when the 

 insect is ensnared well towards the circumference of the web, and indeed, 

 for the most part, in other cases also, it results that the ray or sector 



