ba. a a al nll ee 
Se : 
THE RAY SPIDER AND HER SNARE. 199 
Figs. 187 and 189, at the point where the rays converge, grasping the axes 
with the four hind feet. She has the posterior part of her abdomen 
toward her snare, thus reversing the attitude of all her tribe. Moreover, 
her back is turned upward. The two front feet seize the trapline and 
draw it taut. Then, precisely as a sailor pulls upon a rope, “hand over 
hand,” the little arachnid’s feet move along the trap- 
line, one over another. As she moves, going, of course, 
y away from her net, the axes of the rays, 
eh ae held firmly in the hind feet, follow her; the 
centre of the snare bears inward, the other 
parts are stretched taut, and the web at last has taken 
the form of a cone or funnel as at Figs. 190, 191. 
In this position the snares continually suggested an 
umbrella with ribs reversed by the wind and the coy- 
ering stripped loose from the top of the handle. Fig. 
190 gives a side view of the web when thus bowed or 
drawn taut; another snare is shown at Fig. 191, as seen 
from behind. These snares were located within cavi- jye, 192, Ray spider seat- 
_ties formed by the dropping away of stones from the la ee foot basket, 
ruined dam breast in which they were first discovered. ; 
In the example shown at Fig. 191 the spider has moved quite down 
the trapline to the surface of the little twig projecting into the cavity to 
which it is attached. It will thus be seen that the snare is more or less 
a plane surface, or more or less conical, according to the position of the 
animal upon the trapline and the degree of tension thereof. 
Il. 
When an insect strikes the snare, the spider has two modes of operat- 
ing. The first somewhat resembles that of the ordinary 
Orbweaver, in that the insect is simply permitted to en- 
tangle itself, and is then taken, swathed, re- 
turned to the centre, and eaten. There is, 
however, this difference: before the spider goes 
to the insect, the axes of the snare are twisted or knotted 
by a rotary action of her body and movement of the 
legs, so that the parts of the orb unbroken by the captive 
remain taut. Fig. 188 represents a snare thus “ locked,” 
or, perhaps I might more properly say, “keyed.” The 
\trapline is now relaxed, although its elasticity is such 
Fig. 198. Position on that the change can scarcely be noticed. The spider 
getin ac silly head then moves upon her victim, quite habitually cutting out 
; the spirals with her mandibles as she goes. When the 
insect is ensnared well towards the circumference of the web, and indeed, 
for the most part, in other cases also, it results that the ray or sector 
Operating 
the Snare. 
me Sle ee, eae 
