FUNNEL-WEB BUILDER, 
IMPLE nests and tubes are all the majority of spiders 
construct for their homes. The larger and better known 
webs for catching insects are made by comparatively few 
species. He who is astir in the grass-fields on damp sum- 
mer mornings, will everywhere see innumerous flat webs, 
from an inch or two to a foot in diameter, which weather- 
wise folks consider prognostic of a fair day. These webs 
may always be found upon the grass at the proper season, 
but only become visible from a distance when the dew is 
upon them, making the earth appear as covered by an almost 
continuous carpet of silk. 
By far the greater number of these nests is of the form 
which is termed funnel-webs, which consist of a concave 
sheet of silk, constituted of strong threads, crossed by finer 
ones, which the author spins with the long hind-spinnerets, 
swinging them from side to side, and laying down a band of 
threads at each stroke, the many hundred threads extending 
in all directions to the supporting spears of grass. The web 
is so close and tight that the footsteps of the spider can be 
distinctly heard by the attentive, listening ear as she runs 
hither and thither over its scarcely bending surface. At one 
side of the web is a tube, leading down among the grass- 
stems, which serves as a hiding-place for the owner of the 
web. Here, at the top, and just out of sight, the spider 
ordinarily stands, waiting for something to light upon the 
web, when she eagerly rushes out, seizing the prey unluckily 
caught and carrying it into her tube to eat. If too formida- 
ble an insect comes upon the web, she turns herself round, 
