THE RAY SPIDER AND HER SNARE. 207 
Epeira hortorum, and of one or two species of Theridioids, were in close 
neighborhood. The whole pretty scene was embowered in a grove of young 
trees. A more charming habitat could not well have been found. 
Another colony, not far away, was established within the cavities formed 
underneath the roots of a large fallen tree, and beneath the ledges of some 
rocks over which the roots turned. In several similar positions were found 
the same snares, and also among the rocks in a wild ravine through which 
ran the stream, Lownes’ Run. 
Further explorations of the surrounding country showed that the spider 
was largely distributed, and in similar conditions. I found numbers in 
ravines, on the broad leaves of the skunk cabbage,! whose snares were 
stretched above the brooklet, and beneath the shelying banks. They were 
also found among the rocks of Crum Creek over the beautiful drive to 
Howard Lewis’ mill. Subsequently I collected the same spider in Eastern 
Ohio (New Lisbon, Columbiana County), where it was domiciled in a deep, 
cool ravine, Mineral Spring Glen. A runlet that cuts across the escapement 
of a hill on its way to Little Beaver Creek, has worn out the rocks into a 
series of descending steplike platforms, over which the stream flows, form- 
ing one or two waterfalls of some height. On each side of the stream, 
and particularly under the ledges of the rock platforms, the snares of 
Theridiosoma were placed. The habitat of the Ray spider may therefore 
be described as moist, cool, shaded cavities and recesses among rocks and 
roots, beneath banks and foliage, over or near running water. I have com- 
pared my specimens with some of Mr. Emerton’s collections, made in va- 
rious parts of New England, and find them identical. A specimen sent by 
Dr. Koch to Count Keyserling had been collected by Dr. Brendel in Peoria, 
Illinois. 
The distribution of the Ray spider is thus greatly enlarged, and no 
doubt it will be found in many other parts of America. One might venture 
the opinion, based upon its peculiar habitat, that the species will 
also be found in Canada, Accepting the species as identical 
with Theridiosoma gemmosum, of which I have no doubt, we are 
able to place this interesting aranead also among those American species 
that haye an intercontinental and possibly a cosmopolitan distribution. 
Distribu- 
tion. 
1Symplocarpus (or Ichtodes) foetidus. 
