NESTING HABITS AND PROTECTIVE ARCHITECTURE. 307 
clasp the trapline leading thereto. The occupant is sheltered beneath and 
on both sides by the leafy walls, and, as her hammock shelters from at- 
tacks coming from above, she may be regarded as well protected. A front 
view of Gibberosa’s nest is given at Fig. 286, and a side view at Fig. 287; 
the nest is shown even more plainly at Fig. 145. 
We 
The various forms of nest architecture described above may be said to 
‘ have developed around the instinct of protection. In other words, 
Nesting the spinningwork of spiders used for domiciles is protective indus- 
Industry SRA 
Pro- try. It may be well, with this in view, to make a summary of the 
tective, nesting habits of Orbweavers as above described, and briefly 
compare them with those of other tribes of the order. 
It may be said, at the outset, that the portion of the body which is 
most assailable by enemies and least defensible by the spider is that which 
Set is invariably especially protected. That 
j oa part is the soft abdomen. Around this 
at : [4 yy the tube, tent, or screen, or whatever 
ae ee Lo 4 characteristic defense is provided, will 
YE SSS ae 
Fic. 286. Hammock nest of Gibberosa on a leaf. Fic. 287. Nest of Gibberosa; side view. 
certainly be spun. It is this part that parasitic enemies assail; it is 
this which forms the juicy bit coveted by birds, frogs, lizards, and other 
arachnophagous animals. The legs and even the face will therefore be 
thrust out of the entrance of the nest or be left partially unprotected, 
while the abdomen is entirely screened. One cannot suppose that this 
coincidence is accidental. Evidently the animal is conscious that the ab- 
domen is the portion of its body which most requires protection, and has 
directed its industry to that end. 
The following are some of the varied forms of protective industry: 
1. Spiders protect themselves by leafy tents, that is to say, tents, coverings, 
or screens made of bits of a leaf, of a whole leaf, or of several 
leaves united. The Labyrinth spider, for example, appropriates 
a dry leaf that may drop into her snare, or which she secures 
for that purpose. It is placed in the midst of her labyrinth of crossed 
lines, frequently with the concavity downwards. Underneath this she 
stations herself, pressing the abdomen upward against the leaf. Insularis 
and others of the group represented by her protective industry make a 
Leafy 
Tents. 
