Miscellaneous. 69 



the greatest activity in web- weaving began were those in which 

 also began the formation of the bridge-lines. The latter action 

 quite invariablj' preceded the former. 



2. Again, a study of the foundation-lines of many webs gave 

 more or less conclusive evidence that they were laid by the aid of 

 aii'-currents. For example, the webs of some species, as Acrosoma 

 mitrata, A. spinea^ and ^-1. ruc/osa, were frequeiitly found strung 

 between young trees separated by two or three yards. That these 

 builders might have dropped to the ground, crept over wood, grass, 

 and dry leaves, carrying the thread in the free outstretched claw, 

 is, perhaps, not impossible, but did not seem at all probable to the 

 speaker, although short spaces over smooth surfaces might well be 

 cleared in this way. One web he found spun upon lines stretched 

 from the balustrade of a bridge that spans a deep glen in Pairmount 

 Park to the foliage of a tree that springs out of the glen at least 

 twenty-fivo feet below. Unless foundations were formed by line- 

 bridging the interspace of a yard or more, it must be inferred that 

 the spider had droj)ped from the balustrade to the glen, crossed the 

 interval to the trunk of the tree, ascended it, and, having made the 

 detour of nearly sixty feet to the point directly opposite that from 

 which she started, drawn her long line taut, and so completed her 

 foundation. Dr. McCook thought that such a supposition could not 

 be entertained, and it was clear that a breeze carried the line across 

 from the spider's spinnerets. 



Even stronger examples of circumstantial evidence were noted. 

 Very man}' webs of Tetra(jnatha extensa and T. r/raJIafor were seen 

 spread upon bushes overhanging pools and streams of water ; others 

 were seen stretched between separated water-plants, or from such 

 plants to the shore. Either the foundation-lines were borne by air- 

 currents, or the spiders must have crossed upon the water, carrying 

 their lines. The latter supposition is not wholly untenable, the 

 speaker thought, but would hardly be raised by any one who had 

 studied the spinning-habits of the creature. 



One other example may be cited. At Cape May, by the Landing, 

 where pleasure-boats used for sailing upon the inlet are stored, there 

 is an immense colony of Epeiroids, chiefly Ejjcim strix, E. vulgaris, 

 and E. domidliorum (Hentz). Great numbers of these spiders had 

 their lines strung between the opposite, exterior walls of the boat- 

 houses, which are built upon piles driven into the water. These 

 lines were about 9 feet long, stretched over the water at heights 

 varying from 1 to 10 feet. Most of them passed from wall to wall; 

 many were fastened at one end upon piles and sticks driven here and 

 there between the houses. Even if one were to admit that Tetnt- 

 gnatha could carry a free line over the smooth surface of an inland 

 pool, it is past belief that the above-named Epeiras performed 

 the same act upon the rough waters of an inlet of the Atlantic 

 Ocean. The only reasonable conclusion is, that bridge-lines were 

 formed by air- currents. 



3. It was greatly desired that to the aljove cases of circumstantial 



