Kew : Snares or Snap-nets of Triangle Spiders. 



197 



'of gathering" the slack line of the snare in its claws, and 

 suddenly releasing- it.' 



Hyptiotes eavatus, in America, has been more fully studied. 

 Professor Wilder has published two papers on its snare and 

 habits, one in 1873 and one in 1875 : both illustrated, and 

 having- the advantage of being wholly original, the author 

 being unacquainted with the writing's of Thorell, Ausserer, and 

 Sordelli ; the second paper embodies the results of five seasons' 

 work.* The subject has been further described and illustrated 

 by Mr. Emertonf and by Dr. McCook..! The little spider, which 

 is seen chiefly in late summer and autumn, re'sembles the 

 European species in its attachment to pine trees. It has been 

 found abundantly by McCook among- the mountain pines of 

 Central Pennsylvania ; as well as in the flat, sandy, pine barrens 

 of New Jersey; in pine groves on the sea-shore at Ipswich 

 Bay, Massachusetts, etc. But it is frequently found in other 

 situations, the same naturalist having- observed it among- shrubs 

 and evergreens on the lawns of country residences ; in groves 

 of deciduous trees ; in the under-bush of Woodland Cemetery, 

 Philadelphia, etc. Wilder found it, in woods, on hemlock twig-s; 

 and Mrs. Treat || found it, in New Jersey, among- flowering- 

 peas, the snare being attached to the dry sticks supporting the 

 plants. In hanging the snare between the branches of trees, 

 the creature generally chooses those which are dry and bare ; 

 but this is not a universal preference, the snare being often 

 found among green needles of pine boughs and amidst green 



Wilder, The nets of Epeira, Nephila, and Hyptiotes, Proceeding's of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science, XXII. (1873), Part 2, 

 pp. 2(14-74; The Triangle Spider, Popular Science Monthly, VI. (1875), 

 pp. 641-55. The writer has to tender his thanks to Professor Wilder, who 

 most obligingly sent him, from America, copies of these papers (and of 

 Other papers on spiders), and gave and obtained permission for the copying 

 of Pigs. 4-6. 



t Emerton, The cobwebs of Uloborus, American Journal of Science (3), 

 XXY. (1883), pp. 203-5; New England Spiders of the family Ciniflonidae, 

 Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, \ II. 1 iSSS). 

 pp. 454-7 ; Structure and Habits of Spiders, 1S7S, pp. 75-9. 



:', McCook, On the Snare of the Ray Spider (Epeira radiosa), a new form 

 of Orb-web, Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia, [881, pp. 165-75; American Spiders and their Spinningwork, 1. 

 (1889), pp. 180-94, io o -2 °7' HI- O893), pp. -75-7- The writer is indebted to 

 Dr. McCook or permission to copy Pigs. 2 and 3. 



II M. Treat, quoted by McCook, 1S89, op. cit., I. (1889), p. 181. 

 1900 July 2. 



