196 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 
Fic, 187. The Ray spider seated on her snare, just before 
drawing the trapline. 
species will be considered more 
fully in the appropriate part 
of this work. At present we 
may devote our attention to 
the remarkable and most in- 
teresting character of the 
web. 
The locations in which I 
first discovered the snares, and 
where afterward I found them 
to be quite abundant, had been 
for several years a familiar 
and favorite hunting ground 
for spiders. It illustrates the 
fact that some of the most in- 
teresting discoveries that await 
future observers may be found 
near their own well known 
haunts, and upon ground that 
has been often searched by other workers, or even by themselves. 
The first examples of the species collected by me attracted little atten- 
tion so far as the snare was 
concerned, because 
they seemed to be 
simply a new spe- 
cies, or the young of an old 
species of Orbweayer, hang- 
ing upon the remnants of 
webs greatly broken by or- 
dinary wear and tear in cap- 
turing insects. But the rep- 
etition of the form, partic- 
ularly the peculiar character 
of the open central, struck 
me as strange. How could 
the nets of several spiders 
possibly happen to be twist- 
ed into the same shape, and 
that shape so strikingly odd 
as that which I observed ? 
This caused me to make a 
Discov- 
ery. 
Fig. 188. Interblending of rays upon one axis. H, hub, or 
central point; T, trapline. 
1 Dr, Thorell, to whom I sent specimens, has recently written me that he considers my 
Radioga quite identical with Theridiosoma gemmosum (L. Koch), and agrees with me that 
on structural grounds alone it may be well ranked with the Orbitelariz. 
