Miscellaneous. 181 
spinning-work of spiders may be classified as (1) the snare, spun for 
the capture of prey; (2) the enswathment, by which insects are dis- 
armed and prepared for food; (3) the gossamer, used for purposes 
of aqueous or acrial locomotion ; (4) the cocoon, spun for the propa- 
gation and protection of the species; and (5) the nest, which is a 
domicile more or less elaborate and permanent, within or under 
which the aranead dwells for protection against enemies and weather- 
changes. Asarule the great groups of Orb-weavers differ from 
each other and agree within themselves in the characteristic form 
of nest. The form prevailing in each family is substantially the 
same; each species appears to adhere quite steadily to one charac- 
teristic form; but there are some marked variations in the habit of 
certain species, the most decided of which have been observed in the 
case of Epeira strivw. Some examples of this were given. 
1. The ordinary nest of Z. strza when domiciled in the open field or 
wood isa rolled leaf. A single leaf is taken, the edge pulled up, 
drawn under, and fastened by adhesive threads into a rude cylinder, 
within which the spider hides during the daytime. A thread-con- 
nexion with the foundation-lines of the snare is maintained ; but 
rarely with the centre of the orb by a taut trap-line, as is the habit 
of the insular spider, Hpeira imsularis. 
2. A second form of nest varies from the rolled-leaf nest in 
haying the edges of two adjacent leaves bent towards each other 
and lashed together on the exterior at the juncture by silken cords 
and on the interior by adhesive-tissue web. An oval opening is left 
at the united points of the leaves, through which the connecting- 
line passes to the snare. The spider domiciles within the leafy 
cavern thus formed. 
3. Again, the spider avails herself of small holes in wood or 
stone, openings in fences, the interspace between curled bark on 
the trunk of old trees, or some like cavity, which she appropriates 
as a nesting-place. A slight lining will generally be found upon 
the concave surface. Dr. McCook had noticed that in such cases 
the snare is sometimes diverted from its normal shape in order to 
give a convenient approach thereto from the den. One such ex- 
ample was found spun between aside of the Peace Fountain in 
Fairmount Park (Philadelphia) and the stone wall adjoining. In 
order to pitch her tent within a hole in the rock, the spider diverted 
one of the radii from the plane of the orb, and extended it backward 
to the hole. The spirals which passed over this radius thus made 
an elbow or angle, which was indeed nearly a right angle, and gave 
the orb an odd broken appearance. The radius of course served as 
the bridge-line by which the spider passed from her den to her snare. 
4. Another variation was due to an accident in the environment 
of the web. A half-grown L. striv had woven a snarein the hollow 
of a decayed tree (at New Lisbon, Ohio), within two feet of the 
ground. A colony of the Pennsylvania carpenter-ant (Camponotus 
pennsylvanicus) had quarters in the tree; and asquad of black workers 
were busy excavating their wooden galleries. These dropped their 
chippings from openings just above the spider’s orb, whose viscid 
spirals retained goodly quantities of the brown sawdust. In course 
of time a ball of chippings as big as a walnut had accumulated, or, 
