THE GENESIS OF SNAKES. 355 



find in the same family another species, Uloborus, whose snare is a com- 

 plete circle, with lines radiating from the centre all around to the circum- 

 ference, precisely in the manner of Argiope and Epeira. These 

 Curled lines, however, instead of being united by viscid concentrics, are 

 Th d un ited Jby a spiral thread precisely like that used by Hyptiotes and 

 Dictyna. Here we see the flocculent thread upon radiating lines 

 which appears in a genus of the Tubitelaria?, planted upon the radiating 

 lines of a full orbed web. In other words, Dictyna may be said to have 

 given to Hyptiotes a fraction of her habit, which Hyptiotes has devel- 

 oped into her fixed and characteristic snare, and in turn has handed on 

 to Uloborus, which has multiplied the circular sector of Hyptiotes into a 

 complete orb, while retaining the characteristic interradials of the Tube- 

 weaving Dictyna. 



But we are enabled to trace another resemblance and another variation 

 in the habit. The most interesting spinningwork of the Ray spider, 

 Theridiosoma gemmosum, may be said to be constructed funda- 

 g ., mentally upon the plan of Hyptiotes. But that plan has been 



enlarged by multiplying the number of sectors. In this respect, 

 it approaches the spinningwork of Dictyna, as represented at Fig. 344. 

 But these several sectors or rays have been so united that they form, 

 under certain aspects, an orbicular web. This web, by means of the trap- 

 line and the special habit possessed by the spider, can be bowed until it 

 assumes the form of the dome shaped web of the Lineweaving Linyphia. 

 Here appears a remarkable variation. While the fundamental character 

 of the Ray spider's web unites it most closely to Hyptiotes, and thus back- 

 ward to Dictyna ; the interradial lines show marked divergence in the di- 

 rection of the Orbweavers. They are covered with viscid beads, precisely 

 like the webs of the Epei'roids. Thus we are led from the Tubeweavers, 

 by way of the genus Dictyna, along the line of the Triangle spider, Ulo- 

 borus, and the Ray spider, to the great tribe of Orbitelarise, whose habits 

 and industry we have especially considered in this volume. 



We can now connect these two wings of habit, which from the one ex- 

 treme of the Tubitelarise have departed towards the Lineweavers, and from 

 the other extreme towards the Orbweavers. Let us go back for a moment 

 to the intersecting lines which support the sheeted snare of Agalena. 

 These, as we have seen, appear in the genus Theridiuni and allied genera 

 as a well developed web of interlacing lines, massed in a laby- 

 HTh 18 ' rm t nean snare - It is but a step from this spinningwork across 

 ridium * ne Border i nto that portion of the web of Epeira labyrinthea 

 which is known as the labyrinth or maze. This, in every respect, 

 is a Retitelarian snare. If we were to sever the orb of the Labyrinth 

 spider from its composite web, we should find the residuum in no respect 

 differing from that of the typical web of Theridiuni tepidariorum. 



Nor is Epeira labyrinthea alone in the possession of this characteristic 



