WEAVERS OF ROUND WEBS. 113 
toward the web. The posture at the hub, therefore, is the natural one 
taken when, upon disturbance of the snare, the aranead runs down the 
trapline to the centre. Convenience and habit combine to fix the posture 
as we find it. 
Moreover, the majority of vertical orbwebs have the longer part of 
the spiral surface available for capture of insects below the median 
horizontal line, a fact caused, as has been seen (Chapter V.) by 
= at the corner loops that stretch downward beyond the concentrics. 
ea Thus the habitual posture of the spider really gives the widest 
Natural, command of the snare, 
being the best posture 
from which to sally forth against 
entangled insects. 
Still further it may be said, 
that the nest does not necessarily 
afford the readiest or even safest 
retreat in case of assault by ene- 
mies. It is much easier for the 
spider to fling herself from the 
web and drop to the ground than 
to mount to her nest. Not only 
is this movement executed with 
marvelous dispatch, but, as I can 
well testify from my experience 
in collecting specimens, the con- 
cealment afforded by the grass, 
leaves, etc., at the surface is very 
complete, especially as the ani- 
mal instantly curls herself into 
a ball and lies in the foliage Fic, 102, Position of Epeira upon her hub, to show command 
with the rigidity and stillness Pot ee 
of death. On the whole the inverted posture of the Orbweaver, however 
unnatural it may seem to us, is precisely the one which nature has made 
most advantageous to the spider. 
The legs of the Orbweaver are rarely, never habitually, I think I may 
say, spread out equally over the hub. ‘The two fore feet on each side 
are approximated, and spread out from the body at an angle 
FeetCom- more or less acute. (See Fig. 102.) The two hind pairs of legs 
a the are similarly placed, although the short third pair is more. 
3 ‘likely to be extended directly from the body. The approxima- 
tion is sometimes so close that the legs are arranged X-shape. If the 
claws be closely examined as the spider thus hangs, they will be seen 
very generally to clasp the lines of the hub at or near the points where 
several radii unite, or to hold on by little pyramidal clusters of threads 
en ey Re eee Fee 
