7. = 
~~ 
WEAVERS OF ROUND WEBS. 119 
congeners, i. e., the abdomen more nearly approaches a globular shape. In 
Massachusetts I found one specimen with a white abdomen ; two with yellow 
abdomens; one with bright strawberry or burnt sienna marks; one Tri- 
folium that was blackish, the markings on the abdomen being white or 
silvery. These were all found in nests of several leaves, fastened together 
in the ordinary ways. A similar variety in coloring characterized specimens 
found in huckleberry patch- 
es and wooded hillsides just 
back of the bay, at Niantic, 
Connecticut. 
In habit and spinning- 
work Trifolium resembles 
Insularis, living in a curled 
leaf with a trapline attach- 
ment to her snare.!_ Hentz 
in his description, based 
upon a specimen from 
Maine, says that the spi- 
der is found.in houses and 
near dwellings. Mrs. Mary 
Treat reports the same 
characteristic of the indi- 
viduals seen by her in New 
Hampshire. On the con- 
trary I have rarely found 
& specimen except in the 
open fields or among shrub- 
bery and often quite remote 
from human habitations. 
A summer (1888) spent 
on Cape Ann, Massachu- 
setts, gave me an admir- 
able opportunity to  ob- 
serve the habits of this Fic. 107. Orb and nest of the Shamrock spider, Epeira trifolium. 
species. Those who are 
familiar with New England hedge rows know how they are 
mae formed ; granite boulders and blocks, brought from the meadow 
ee or elsewhere, are piled along the boundaries between field and 
road into low stone walls or fences. On either side of these 
walls grow in unchecked profusion the native plants and wild flowers of 
New England. There are shrubs of various sorts, golden rod, great ferns, 
irregularly placed; 4 notches below; central space nearly 8 inches. Vineland, N. J., on 
the bank of a run. j 
1 Fig. 107, measurements: Orb, 14 x 14 inches; hub, 1 inch; notched zone, } x 4 inch, 
7“) as" " 
