~~ ee ee ee. a es 
298 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 
many dried leaves are seen in late summer, pierced by and clinging to the 
barbs, and within these the spiders establish a congenial but not very 
artistic domicile. (Fig. 274.) Others have a rude nest of rubbish at one 
side, under the sheltered parts of the fence. From these dens several trap- 
lines, in an irregular series, frequently stretch to the orb centre. Like In- 
sularis she also spins a bell shaped tent when a suitable arboreal shelter 
is not convenient to her site. Indeed, her habit in this respect appears 
to form (if one might so say) a connecting link between the confirmed 
leaf nesting behavior of Insularis, 
whom I have never seen without a 
leaf nest, and the habit of those spe- 
cies that persistently occupy snares and 
have no tented retreat. 
I have always found Epeira trivit- 
tata upon a vertical web, with a 
meshed hub and the usual charac- 
teristics of Epeira strix and that group of Orbweayers. I do not remember 
to have seen her dwelling in a nest of a very perfect character, 
but she makes a simple shelter at the side of her orb, in which 
she spends part of her time. One female (Massachusetts) was 
seen hanging in a sprig of golden rod at one side of her snare, haying 
several lines extending therefrom to the web. (Fig. 275.) Another was 
resting, with her back upward, in a little nest in the leaves of an adjoining 
golden rod plant. A series of slight irregular lines connected the hub with 
the stem of the bush on which the orb was spun. 
Trivittata! is closely related to Domiciliorum in gen- 
eral structure and habit. This spider is distributed 
throughout the larger part of the United States, its 
locality having been determined from New England 
to Wisconsin, and from Florida to Texas and Cali- 
fornia. 
A quite persistent nest maker is Epeira verte- 
brata,? a spider which is naturally grouped with the 
last named. I have received numerous specimens from 
: the Pacific coast, and from cocoons sent me by Mrs. Rosa Smith 
Epeira Bigenmann (San Diego) have raised a number of specimens upon 
i sae vines in my manse yard. These all made nests of rolled leaves, 
but they are evidently not as persistent and artistic nest builders 
as Trifolium and Insularis. Early in the afternoon they would make snares, 
and usually wait at the hub for prey, instead of watching from their den. 
Fic. 274. Nest of Domicile spider in dried leaf. 
Epeira 
trivittata. 
Fie, 275. Shelter nest of 
Epeira trivittata, 
1. arabesca, Walck., Nat. Hist. Aptéres, Vol. II., page 74. LE. trivittata, Keyserling 
Sitzungsberichte der Isis, 1863. 
2 McCook, “Descriptive Notes of New American Species of Orbweaving Spiders.” Pro- 
ceed. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, 1868, page 196. 
