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120 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 
red raspberries, countless bushes of wild roses in full bloom, elder with 
its white blossoms or purple fruit clusters, and many other flowering plants, 
intermingled with weeds and grasses. This interesting bit of tangled plant 
life is a favorite camping ground for innumerable spiders, among which I 
found in August many of the leafy domiciles of Trifolium. 
This species lives from Maine southward; I have found it in Massa- 
chusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio; and haye specimens as far 
to the northwest as Wisconsin. Dr. Marx’s specimens carry her range to 
Bismarck (Dakota), Minnesota, Colorado, and Wyoming. Its distribution is 
probably coterminous with that of Insularis although possibly more limited 
southward. ‘Trifolium closely resembles the European Epeira quadrata both 
in appearance and habit. It is not at:all unlikely that they may be regarded 
by future students as simply varieties of one species. There is indeed a very 
close relation between these two species and Epeira marmorea, and the entire 
trio might without violence be classified as varieties of Epeira quadrata 
Clerck. : 
Among various species sent me from California is one which I have 
heretofore described as Epeira vertebrata.! It is evidently a very common 
species on the Pacific coast, judging by the number of repre- 
i tea sentatives always found among collections from that quarter. 
Se A few notes as to its habits were sent to me by Mrs. Higen- 
mann; but a fortunate event enabled me to study the species 
on my own premises. Mrs. Smith sent me from San Diego, in the month 
of May, 1888, a number of cocoons from which hatched out a vast colony 
of young. ‘These I placed in an arbor in the’manse yard, hoping that 
they might there become domesticated. 
I was surprised to see how slow they were in leaving the home nest, 
clinging fast to the cocoon, and then in little clusters above it for more 
than a month. I left my home for a summer yacation on the 8th of 
July, at which time the young Vertebrate were still hanging in clusters 
and apparently had not grown a particle. I returned September Ist, and 
found five full grown specimens, all females, comfortably domiciled in dif- 
ferent parts of the yard on honeysuckle and ampelopsis vines. ‘Three of 
them were quite near each other, within a few feet of the spot where 
the cocoons hung. Other individuals may have migrated into adjoining 
premises, but these five remained with me and gave me quite full knowl- 
edge of their spinningwork. The following year a number of young 
appeared, and it is not improbable that the species may become perma- 
nently fixed in this section. 
Its snares are identical with those of the Domicile spider, and in 
its general habit it differs little from that species. It occupies a leafy 
nest for much of the time, but not so persistently as Insularis and Tri- 
1 Proceedings Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 1887, page 342. 
