128 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 
In the same group with Acrosoma, among the spiders having an open 
hub and vertical snare, may be placed Cyclosa caudata or the “Tailed 
Spider,” and her closely related congener of Florida, Cyclosa bifurca. The 
snares of this species are never very large. They are hung, as a rule, 
within a system of secondary foundation lines, as represented in Fig. 111, 
thus giving them, as with Acrosoma, a considerable degree of elasticity. 
The spirals of the notched zone, instead of clustering close around the 
hub, wind through the free space, and the number of radii and beaded 
spirals is usually very large. The hub in the normal condition is open, 
and the spider may be found hanging therein with its feet attached to a 
ribboned string which extends upward through the free zone. The ribbon 
runs below the hub as well as above it, and the two bands are fre- 
quently connected by an irregular strip of spinningwork, thus giving the 
hub the appearance of being meshed or even sheeted. It is, however, 
properly placed with the group with open hubs, to which I have here 
assigned it. 
A striking peculiarity of the Tailed spider is to attach her cocoons to a 
line extending upward from the hub to the circumference of the orb. In 
accomplishing this the surrounding spiral lines and sometimes one 
or two of the radii are cut away, giving to the snare the appearance 
of the sectoral orb made by Zilla. This, however, is simply an 
accident of the cocooning habit. The species has also the custom of hang- 
ing flossy pellets of silk upon her orb at various points; and these are 
often to be found mingled with the remains of devoured insects. This 
habit is common among very young specimens of Caudata. In the mature 
spiders the detritus of insect remains is attached to the cocoon. This habit 
is considered at length in Vol. II. in connection with Maternal Instincts and 
Industry. I have occasionally seen similar nodules placed upon the snare of 
Acrosoma rugosa, but the habit does not appear to be fixed in that species, but 
in Caudata it is permanently established. 
The genus Meta has its chief representative in the geographical district of 
Philadelphia, and indeed throughout the Eastern United States, in the species 
Meta menardi. The snare of Meta does not differ from the full 
orb webs of Epeira. Meta segmentata of Europe, according to 
Cambridge! invariably spins her orbicular snare at an inclination 
to the plane of the earth; he had never found one extended perpendicularly. 
The hub of the orb is open, in this respect approximating the snares 
of the spiders which make horizontal webs. Like Tetragnatha extensa, 
it has the habit of extending the first and second pairs of legs in a line 
with the body. This species is quite catholic in the selection of its orb 
site, as there is scarcely a conceivable situation among herbage, bushes, 
heather, on heaths and commons, where it may not be found. 
Peculiar 
Habits. 
Meta 
menardi. 
1“Spiders of Dorset,’ Vol. II., page 241. 
aie eae ee ee 
