106 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 
Fic. 97. Rudimentary web of female Argiope. 
preservation in nature of the individual 
and even the species. The wings do not 
appear to impair the efficacy of the orb as 
a snare for trapping the natural prey of 
the spider. Such insects break upon and 
through the web with an elan bred of un- 
consciousness of danger quite, different 
from the perceptible caution and hesitation 
which mark the conscious approach of a 
hymenopterous foe. 
In the snare figured above (Fig. 89), 
the number of radii was twenty-five. The 
number of spirals in the lower part of the 
orb was twenty-six; in the upper part it 
did not exceed nine. The hub was thus 
placed” well above the geometrical centre of 
the orb. This snare was spun by a female 
colonized upon a young tree. After the 
ordinary preliminary prospecting, she spun 
a rudimentary web, Fig. 97, consisting of a few perpendicular lines looped 
.and crossed, upon which she hung in the natural posture. She remained 
thus until evening and then spun her characteristic orb. This manner of 
resting upon a few straggling ratlins is quite habitual. The male of Cophi- 
naria appears very small by the side of his adult mate. He is not very 
active in his predatory habits after ma- 
turity; at least the snares upon which 
I have always found him appear to be 
poorly adapted to the capture of insects, 
although I have occasionally seen a fly 
entangled in one of them. - 
The drawing of one of these rudiment- 
ary webs, given at Fig. 98, was made from 
a pencil sketch kindly furnished 
me several years ago by Mr, Em- 
erton, and is a fair representa- 
tion of the ordinary character of the web 
upon which I have found the male Coph- 
inaria. It may be noticed that the snare 
quite closely resembles the meshed hub 
spun by the female before the shield is 
made, and which is characteristic in most 
orbs of the genus Epeira. However, there 
is a good deal of variety in the form of 
the male webs, and some of them are much 
Webs of 
the Male. 
Fic, 98. Male of Argiope cophinaria on a 
rudimentary web, 
