72 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 
As a rule, the last named genera will remain upon their webs until 
they are worn out, and repair them whenever the exigency requires, making 
itn Pe the changes ordinarily either in the morning or in the evening, 
Rapaite. and not attempting to mend the broken lines, except as above 
stated, in a casual way, to prevent the collapsing of the snare 
after the disruptions caused by violent insect struggles. They will hold on 
to the snare and let it do what duty it may until toward the close of the 
day, when they proceed to cut away the fragments and build anew. It 
will thus be seen that the act of mending a web in the case of Orbweavers 
is not common, but confined to the damages done by struggling victims 
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Fic. 50. A Shamrock spider mending a wind wrecked web. 
and to the slight impairments due to incidental casualties, such as the 
dropping of leaves, twigs, or the effects of the wind. 
An interesting illustration of the behavior of the spiders under the 
last named condition was seen during a gale of wind at Niantic, Connec- 
ticut. An adult female Shamrock spider, Epeira trifolium, had 
A Wind stretched her large vertical orb from a clump of young oak bushes 
Wrecke 
Web. on the one hand to a cluster of tall golden rods on the other, 
the intervening space over which her foundation line was stretched 
being six or seven feet. The lower parts of the snare were stayed to 
herbage on the ground. A strong gale from the sea was blowing, and 
whipped the tops of the golden rod back and forth so violently that the 
main foundation line was snapped and the upper part of the web collapsed, 
