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THE GENESIS OF SNARES. 339 
this use of the trapline, or the similar use of the footlines, aids in entang- 
ling insects, I can very well believe that it may frequently contribute more 
or less to this result. This may be done either by the mechanical momen- 
tum of the lines which are swung around the insect by the sudden tighten- 
_ ing and releasing thereof; or by exciting the insect and causing it to move 
its wings and legs, thus entangling it more and more within the viscid 
spirals, 
A young Epeira domiciliorum well illustrated the general tendency in 
this direction when under special compulsion of circumstances in the cap- 
ture of prey. When observed, her web had been badly damaged 
Lee by insects. At the sides all the spiral lines had disappeared, 
Frage and a few patched radii alone remained. On the upper part of 
ments. the orb were a few spirals. A segment remained in tolerable 
condition on the lower part of the 
snare, but it also was greatly damaged by the 
fracture of some of the radii. The spider had 
spun a number of lines from the hub to the spin- 
ning space, and these, with the remaining radii, 
were gathered together in all the fore feet and 
pulled very taut. The upper part of the web was 
also tightened, but to a less extent, by the action 
of the two hind feet. But on the sides the web 
appeared to hang loose, and, taking a side view of 
it (Fig. 330), one could readily see how the whole 
action of the spider was bent upon keeping the 
valuable portion of the web in a taut condition, 
ready for service, while the other parts were left 
to take care of themselves. This spider had lit- 
tle more space available for the capture of prey caan eee 
than a Triangle spider with a complete web. I : 
have no doubt that, had I waited to see an insect strike the sector thus 
controlled by the fore feet, I should have seen this Orbweaver let go the 
clustered traplines held in her claws precisely as the Ray and Triangle 
spiders habitually release their single traplines. 
Another example was afforded by the snare of a full grown Stellate 
spider (Epeira stellata), which by some rare ill fortune had lost the entire 
central part of the orb, Yet the animal was not discouraged, but 
held her place at the hub with her legs doubled up in the manner 
usual to the species, and holding quite taut her little remainder 
of a web out on the margin, together with the connecting radii that had 
survived the wear and tear. Here, again, a few sectors quite disconnected 
from the hub were doing duty for trapping insects, as is habitually the 
case with the Ray spider. (See Fig. 331.) (Compare Fig. 331 with Fig. 
187, page 196.) 
Epeira 
stellata. 
