SPIDERS. 



117 



There are other kinds of webs which other kinds of spiders 

 spin. Indeed, among the orb- weavers alone, there is great variety 

 in the character of the webs; some orb-webs for example, lack a 

 sector of the circle, the web being otherwise constructed 

 on the regular orb-web plan; others are composed of perhaps less 

 than one-half a circle, although still with radii, and with con- 

 centric arcs of circles in place of complete circles in the spiral 

 zone. Certain kinds of spiders spin a peculiar broad line or 

 rather baud of curling silk, which leads from the snare to the 



Fig. 74. The triangle sp\(\&r {Hypliotes) and its snare. 



side retreat of the spider. Or they make out of this band of 

 curled silk a central zone not composed of a spiral line but of a 

 closed oval or circular shield. A certain very small spider 

 spins a triangular web (fig. 74), from which a main stay line runs 

 upon which the spider — triangle spider it is called — rests with a 

 loop of the stay line held between the fore and hind legs. When 

 an insect alights upon the snare the spider looses the hold of the 



