ADVERTISEMENT. 
Tax original price of this work was placed at thirty dollars ($30) per set of three 
volumes. In the announcement thereof in a prospectus of August 1st, 1889, special terms 
were offered to subscribers who should send their names béfore the Ist of November of the 
same year. A number accepted this offer, and are, therefore, receiving the entire series for 
twenty-five dollars. With the issue of the first volume this special offer ceased, and the 
price thereafter remained as fixed, namely, ten dollars per volume, until January Ist, 1892. 
At that date, by public notice, the price of the work was fixed at ($50) fifty dollars. 
This is the present selling price, and will thus remain, at least as long as the author retains 
control of the issue. No separate volume will be sold. 
The author was induced to assume the disagreeable role of publisher by two considera- 
tions, first, the wish to be free to present the book according to his own ideas as to 
typography and illustration, which, however, were too luxurious to meet the views of 
ordinary publishers. In the second place, as a commercial venture, the printing of a 
scientific work of this sort, with so limited a circulation, gave no prospect of remuneration 
for cost and care. It is indeed a work of love, and must be carried forward chiefly from a 
desire to enlarge the bounds of truth. Moreover, the cost was too considerable to warrant 
any Scientific Society to undertake the work of publishing from funds always too limited. 
The author therefore accepted the burden of cost, together with the yet more uncongenial 
details of selling, as a part of his task. He has planned and now aims to obtain from the 
sale as nearly as possible the actual expenditure in money for printing and engraving. 
With this in view he was compelled to correct the mistake made at the outset of placing 
the work at so low a price. 
The several volumes will be mailed to subscribers with uncut edges, for the accommoda- 
tion of those who wish to give them special library binding. 
The Author's Edition is strictly limited to two hundred and fifty copies, which will be~ 
numbered consecutively in the order of subscription as received. 
The first two volumes are devoted to a description of the industry and habits of Orb- 
Weaving spiders, both separately and in their relations to the spinning economy of other 
aranead tribes, The first volume treats particularly of Snares and Nests; the second volume 
considers the Cocooning Industry, Maternal Instincts, and General Habits. These volumes 
are liberally illustrated by drawings from nature, containing in all 858 figures, drawn 
and engraved for the work, many of these cut upon the wood, and a large number of full 
page illustrations. Besides these there are forty lithographic plates, colored by 
hand from nature, upon which are engraved 913 figures. In addition, a full page portrait 
of Professor Hentz, the father of American Araneology, has been made the frontispiece of 
Volume III. The third volume contains six chapters of Natural History descriptions, illus- 
trated by ninety-eight engravings. The remainder and principal part of the volume is 
devoted to descriptions of the Orbweaving fauna of the United States, and two plates 
illustrating typical species of the other aranead groups. ; 
Subscriptions may be made directly without the intervention of a bookseller, but a 
slight discount will be allowed to the trade. 
All business communications and subscriptions may be addressed directly to the author or to 
“AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK,” 
Acaprmy or Naruran Scrences, 
Logan Squarg, Patraprrputa, U. 8. A, 
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