COMPOSITE SNARES AND SECTORAL ORBS. 147 
on any of the adjoining islands, although there appears no physical rea- 
son why the species should not occur all along the seaboard.1 
The female is a beautiful, as well as large, spider. The body is over 
an inch long and the longitudinal spread of the legs is nearly four inches. 
The cephalothorax is jet black above, but covered, except in spots, with 
silver colored hairs. The abdomen is not oval but cylindrical in shape, the 
length much greater than the width. In color it is olive brown, a light 
yellow above, and variously marked with yellow and white spots and stripes. 
The legs are yellow, with dull red annuli and feet. The first two and the 
fourth pairs have at the tips of the femur and tibia strong hair brushes 
or feathery tufts to which the best known species of the genus owes its 
name—plumipes, featherfoot, or plumefoot. The male, like that of Argiope, 
is very small in comparison with his mate, who is four or five times larger 
than he. He is not more than a quarter 
of an inch long and is of uniform dull 
brown color. 
Prof. Wilder found the spiders in for- 
ests spinning their webs between trees and 
.,.,. Shrubs, sometimes within reach, 
Nephila’s ju oftener ten or fifteen feet 
Snare. 
or even more from the ground 
where the sunlight could strike them. The 
orb varies from one foot to three or four 
feet in diameter, as large as a wagon wheel. 
It is composed of two kinds of silk, of 
which one is white or silver gray, inelas- Fie. 138. Section of the orb of Nephila. 
tie and perfectly dry. To this belong the past al 
radii, foundation lines and retitelarian supports. The spirals, on the con- 
trary, are a bright yellow or golden hue and very elastic. This 
Sh ae is a remarkable peculiarity, which I have never seen but once, 
in an exceptional case of the web of the Furrow spider woven 
in captivity. This had a bright, golden yellow color, which continued 
throughout several months, during which I preserved the web. I attribute 
this phenomenal appearance to some abnormal condition of the spinning 
organs, by which the glands that furnish the flossy, yellowish silk used 
for blanketing the cocoon and for winter covering, had been required to 
secrete material for snare weaving. But with Nephila the yellow secretion 
appears to be habitually used for the viscid spirals. This color marks the 
webs of the genus generally, as described by Vinson (of African spiders) 
and others. 
The spiral scaffolding, however, is spun of white silk, and is not re- 
moved after the completion of the spirals, an exception to the habit of 
1T have had specimens from Florida, 
