THE GENESIS OF SNARES. . 619)5) 
find in the same family another species, Uloborus, whose snare is a com- 
plete circle, with lines radiating from the centre all around to the circum- 
ference, precisely in the manner of Argiope and Epeira. These 
Curled —_ jines, however, instead of being united by viscid concentrics, are 
Hoe united by a spiral thread precisely like that used by Hyptiotes and 
Dictyna. Here we see the flocculent thread upon radiating lines 
which appears in a genus of the Tubitelariz, planted upon the radiating 
lines of a-full orbed web. In other words, Dictyna may be said to have 
given to Hyptiotes a fraction of her habit, which Hyptiotes has devel- 
oped into her fixed and characteristic snare, and in turn has handed on 
to Uloborus, which has multiplied the circular sector of Hyptiotes into a 
complete orb, while retaining the characteristic interradials of the Tube- 
weaving Dictyna. 
But we are enabled to trace another resemblance and another variation 
in the habit. The most interesting spinningwork of the Ray spider, 
Theridiosoma gemmosum, may be said to be constructed funda- 
mentally upon the plan of Hyptiotes. But that plan has been 
enlarged by multiplying the number of sectors. In this respect, 
it approaches the spinningwork of Dictyna, as represented at Fig. 344. 
But these several sectors or rays have been so united that they form, 
under certain aspects, an orbicular web. This web, by means of the trap- 
line and the special habit possessed by the spider, can be bowed until it 
assumes the form of the dome shaped web of the Lineweaving Linyphia. 
Here appears a remarkable variation. While the fundamental character 
of the Ray spider’s web unites it most closely to Hyptiotes, and thus back- 
ward to Dictyna; the interradial lines show marked divergence in the di- 
rection of the Orbweavers. They are covered with viscid beads, precisely 
like the webs of the Epeiroids. Thus we are led from the Tubeweavers, 
-by way of the genus Dictyna, along the line of the Triangle spider, Ulo- 
borus, and the Ray spider, to the great tribe of Orbitelariz, whose habits 
and industry we have especially considered in this volume. 
We can now connect these two wings of habit, which from the one ex- 
treme of the Tubitelarie have departed towards the Lineweayers, and from 
the other extreme towards the Orbweayers. Let us go back for a moment 
to the intersecting lines which support the sheeted snare of Agalena. 
These, as we have seen, appear in the genus Theridium and allied genera 
as a well developed web of interlacing lines, massed in a laby- 
rinthean snare. It is but a step from this spinningwork across 
the border into that portion of the web of Epeira labyrinthea 
which is known as the labyrinth or maze. This, in every respect, 
is a Retitelarian snare. If we were to sever the orb of the Labyrinth 
spider from its composite web, we should find the residuum in no respect 
differing from that of the typical web of Theridium tepidariorum. 
Nor is Epeira labyrinthea alone in the possession of this characteristic 
The Ray 
Spider. 
Agalena 
and The- 
ridium. 
