te i eee et 
186 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 
centre,” and “has the finer part arranged in regular loops or scallops (see 
Fig. 176, a, b!) in which separate fibres cannot be distinguished.” 
The spiral lines, according to my own studies, 
when examined under an ordinary hand lens, 
present a milky appearance, as though composed 
of very thinly spun material. With a little 
higher power the supporting spiral thread is seen 
passing through this milky mass. Placed under 
a microscope, the line is seen to consist of three 
strands, namely, the central spiral thread, and 
two curled lines, which alternately cross and re- 
cross each other above and below the centre, 
forming the loops as represented at Fig. 177. In 
1G.175. Calamistrum of Hyptiotes. this respect Mr. Emerton has correctly represent- 
(After Wilder.) a,tarsusandmet- ed the spiral line of Hyptiotes. The two curled 
atarsus of fourth leg; b, the claws, ; * 
open; ¢, crosssection of the meta- lines seemed to me to be sometimes composed of 
Husus, showing itscavityinwhich a flocculent instead of a smooth thread, and it is 
ie the muscles; also a single : ‘ : 
curved bristle upon the side, a this which, seen by the eye, or by a lens of low 
part of the calamistrum; e, a sim- - . * 1 
diarioslaaiatrumbaetia stn mere, Oona) Ue tae milky appearance described. 
enlarged; d,f,two feathered briss The above results I obtained from freshly spun 
tles from near the joints. . 
webs, whose clean silk was unmarred by use. 
Other studies of this cross line, made from older 
snares, showed that it consists of one, two, or three fo) <0). 
a b 
separate threads, around or between which 
set ae the fine flocculent material was twisted or 
en 
Thread. 
Fic. 176. Thread of Hypti- 
otes, showing opposite 
fastened somewhat as in Fig. 178. The lat- sides. (After Emerton.) 
ter presented a milky appearance, and was spread out so fine 
that often no traces of independent filaments were observed. In short, it 
was a very delicate, cottony mass, much wider at some parts than at others, 
presenting in miniature something like the appearance of the woolen rolls 
which, as a boy, I used to watch with intense interest as they passed into 
the flyers of an old fashioned spinning wheel. 
In this cottony mass one frequently observes a 
number of particles of dust, pollen, and various minute 
amorphous objects, which have been caught 
Bead like yon the sticky material as they drifted be- 
; Append: ¢o6 the wind. As in the case of the web 
MRS ar oe os, of Uloborus, they present to the casual ob- 
rangementoftheflocculent server, even when looked at by a common magnifying 
thread. Greatly magnified. e 
lens, the appearance of beads upon the ordinary thread 
of Epeira. It is not strange, therefore, that many have been deceived and 
led to suppose that the Triangle spider makes a beaded web, ‘The true 
1Cobwebs of Uloborus, Am. Jour. Sci., 1883, page 205. Also New England Spiders of 
the Family Ciniflonidee, Pl. XT. 
