302 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



large Epeira insularis, whose nest I had opened by breaking the threads 

 near the lower margin. The inmate reached her claws over the upper 

 edge of the leaf, pulled it downward toward the lower edge, and, while 

 holding the two edges together, elevated the spinnerets, and threw out a 

 ray of threads, which immediately adhered to and cemented them together. 

 The process is not really a " sewing," as it is popularly called, at least in 

 the sense that the leaf is perforated and the thread drawn through the 

 holes. That word, however, is the best that we have, and, perhaps, suffi- 

 ciently characterizes this behavior. 



The fastenings are evidently made in part, at times, from without, as 

 the threads show application to the outer surface of the leaf. -This spin- 



ningwork is well shown at Figs. 254 and 255, in which cases the 

 . e spider has crawled over the outside of the leaves, swinging her 



abdomen alternately from one side to the other, touching the 

 spinners to the surface at each movement. Again, the nest presents the ap- 

 pearance of having been sewed from within in the same manner. In such 

 cases the spider evidently applies the liquid silk to the tangent or ap- 

 proached edges of the leaf, which, when released from the pressure of the 

 spider's claw, spring back and stretch out the thread, leaving an open seam 

 across which the lines run. Sometimes this seam is subsequently entirely 

 closed. The character of the sewing of this and other Orbweavers is shown 

 at Fig. 255, into which the threads have been drawn very accurately from 

 the natural specimen. The sewing habit obtains among the nest makers of 

 all tribes, and the mechanical methods are in all quite identical with those 

 of the Orbweavers as above described. 



Passing now from the spiders whose snares are full orbed, we find the 

 nest making habit existing, with some modifications, among the smaller 



group that weave a sectoral orb. Of these the most numerously 



represented in species is the genus Zilla; her nest is sometimes 

 s simply a rude den of netted lines, so arranged as to leave a 



concavity in the centre of the mass sufficient to shelter the spi- 

 der. The young Zillas quite invariably weave such a shelter tent when 

 they first set up housekeeping. (See Fig. 133, Chapter VIII.) 



Among the adults of the genus the dome shaped silken tent, such as 

 has already been described (Fig. 261), is very common. This tent is swung 



in various positions, according to the location of the spider, and 

 T ] e may or may not have a screen of tented leaves. At other times, 



as I have often seen with Zilla x-notata, in New England, the 

 shelter is spun underneath leaves, and occasionally the leaves are used as 

 a protection; without a very decided woven tent. On the whole, my obser- 

 vations of the habit of Zilla show that it is not strongly inclined to avail 

 itself of the protection of leaves in the manner of Epeira trifolium and 

 others of that group. However, it occupies its home, and uses its trap- 

 line in the manner of the nest making Epei'roids. 



