226 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 
the leaf stayed in a most admirable way. She then took her position un- 
derneath the roof, apparently satisfied with her new shelter. The only 
thing which it seemed to me she might have done better was to turn the 
leaf. It had fallen with the cavernous part upward, and the spider so left 
it, although that part was the one best fitted for a den. I watched for 
7 awhile to see if this point would be observed and remedied by 
Pitching the little architect, but saw nothing. During the night there 
an was a heavy storm of rain and wind, and in the morning I found 
the orb destroyed and the maze much damaged; but the leaf 
remained, and the spider was nestled against it. It had manifestly been 
her refuge against the storm. Naas 
Fic. 214. How a Labyrinth spider swings and stays a leaf. 
The day cleared, and next morning a new and beautiful snare had been 
spun. However, a site had been chosen six or eight inches removed from 
the original one. To this point the leaf had been shifted ; and now I no- 
ticed that it had been turned over so that the concave part was downward, 
as at first I had thought it ought to be. This could hardly have been the 
result of accident. ‘The whole leaf was now so arranged as to make the 
best shelter possible, and it was stayed within its position in the maze in 
an admirable manner. Fig. 214. 
To the point of the stem was fastened a very strong, thick, white line 
(a, a) similar to that with which Labyrinthea suspends her string of cocoons. 
This extended through the labyrinth in a somewhat waving course for 
a distance of eight inches. This line was braced throughout its course 
he a ae 
