HA R D WICKE ' S SCIENCE-G OSSIP. 



"5 



more closely, and very effectually conceals the spider 

 from view. Immediately surrounding it is a ring of 

 such open texture as to allow the occupant to pass 

 easily aud rapidly from one side to the other. 



This particular web was built between branches of 

 a lauraceous shrub growing near water, a place J 



through the open meshes of the central part, and ran 

 towards the entangled fly. I captured both in a 

 chip-box, and secured the centre of the web by 

 cutting it out between the lid and body of a glass- 

 topped box. With legs expanded the spider covers 

 ) an area of a little over an inch in diameter. The 



*ig. 71. 



requented by two species of stalk-eyed flies, Diop- 

 since, examples of which I was in quest of. I had 

 noticed the web and its central opacity, but I did not 

 perceive the spider, until a Diopsis flew into the 

 meshes, from the side on which I was ; simultaneously 

 the spider appeared from thejopposite side, coming 



cephalo-thorax is circular, flattened from above 

 downwards, this and the abdomen being covered 

 with short, silvery-grey hairs. Legs alternately 

 banded yellow and black, furnished with black hairs 

 and spines. Eyes eight, two on the top of the head, 

 two on the anterior edge, and two pairs arranged 



