Kew : Snares or Snap-nets of Triangle Spiders. 2 1 3 



This method, we find in conclusion, is not absolutely peculiar 

 to Hyptiotes. It has been ascertained by McCook* that the 

 little aberrant orb-weaver Theridiosoma radiosumj is in the habit 

 of snapping" its peculiar snare in a manner clearly comparable to 

 the action of Hyptiotes. Theridiosoma was formerly regarded as 

 belonging' to the Retitelariae, or as a connecting" link between 

 that tribe and the orb-weavers,; and thoug"h now looked upon 

 as an orb-weaver, it should be noted that, being ecribellate, it is 

 not of the family of Uloborids and thus not closely related to 

 Hyptiotes. The snare is a vertical orb, the radii of which make 

 up more or less distinct sectors, with axes meeting at the centre, 

 from which runs a more or less horizontal trap-line. The spider 

 takes up its position at the centre, resting partly cn the trap-line, 

 and looking away from the snare, not towards it as in Hyptiotes ; 

 the third and fourth pairs of feet command the axes of the 

 sectors, while the two front pairs are extended along the trap- 

 line. In its relaxed condition the snare is flat, but the spider 

 habitually bows it, shortening the trap-line by accumulating 

 a coil of slack between the fore pairs of legs or between these 

 and the hind pairs ; the snare is thus made taut, the centre 

 being drawn inward until at last the whole structure takes the 

 form of a cone or funnel. When the adhesive lines are struck 

 by an insect, the spider, as described in detail by McCook, often 

 springs the snare ; and this it does by releasing the grasp of 

 the fore feet upon the trap-line, whereupon the slack sharply 

 uncoils, and the snare unbends and shoots quickly forward, 

 instantly changing from the bowed form to the circular plane, 

 and carrying the spider with it tail foremost. As in the case 

 of Hyptiotes, the process is repeated if necessary, and the spider 

 does not leave its position until it believes the prey to be w ell 

 entangled. 



Postscript. — Since writing I have been favoured with a note 

 from Mr. Warburton, in reply to an inquiry on the occurrence 

 of Hyptiotes paradoxus in the New Forest. It is to Mr. War- 

 burton that the credit of the rediscovery of the creature in 

 England belongs|| ; he found it in August 1894, near Brocken- 



* McCook, 1882, I.e. ; 1889, I.e., pp. 195-207. 

 t Epeira radiosa. 



t Cambridge, Spiders of Dorset, 1879-81, p. 427. 



Ii O. Pickard-Cambridg-e, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History 

 and Antiquarian Field Club, XVI. (1S95), p. 1 16 ; V. O. Piekard-Can-bi idi;e, 

 Naturalist, 1895, p.33. 



iqoo July J. 



