Armitt : Observations on Spiders at Rydal. 



73 



lines are made, it goes to the circumference, and beg-ins from 

 outside the larger concentric lines. 



The web is variously inclined, according- to its position in 

 the herbage. Sometimes it is horizontal ; occasionally, when 

 placed in a clump of day-lilies, among the tall narrow leaves, it 

 is set on an angle, because the foundation lines and the spokes 

 have not been carried out in one plane. I have seen a web, 

 begun about seven o'clock on a June evening, finished in a little 

 over half-an-hour, and the weaver by eight hanging to the 

 centre, ready for business. 



It may be often found, indeed, on the web. It makes no lair, 

 but conceals itself in the herbage near the end of the strong 

 cord that runs to the centre of the web. When disturbed it 

 runs to a securer spot, and shoots out its two front pairs of legs, 

 which are very long. By this attitude it perhaps hopes to 

 persuade an enemy that it is not a spider, and possibly the 

 subterfuge may deceive a bird, but is a little ludicrous to the 

 human being who is watching. Doubtless it needs protection. 

 I have known a well-established pair of Metas disappear 

 suddenly, and the web so persistently kept up left torn and 

 hanging. The male begins to appear in consort with the 

 female in September, and lurks on the extremity of the web 

 waiting her pleasure. He is bolder, however, and when the 

 two are found out on the net together, will hold his own while 

 she beats a retreat. Through October often the couples remain 

 clinging to the garden plants, though autumn rains dash down 

 their webs and chill and paralyse them. Finally they succumb to 

 the approach of winter, like the plants themselves ; and it is 

 only on an evergreen or on a sheltered bank, that we find a 

 stray specimen hanging out a weak web on a mid-December 

 day. In this respect the Zilla^ sheltered by the house, has 

 a great advantage. So long as the weather remains open tlie 

 Zilla continues to spin, even through Januar}^ ; and I reckon 

 that it ceases to spin when the ivy ceases to flower, and that is 

 when the first good frost sets in. This season exquisite webs 

 of the Zilla were shown up on the house by the hoar frost of 

 December 21st, and by the 26th there was skating on Rydal 

 Lake. 



It is perhaps on account of the unprotected haunts of Mela 

 segmejitata that it varies so considerably in colour. One autumn 

 I found the spider's tints to range from ochreous yellow, through 

 buffy or bright browns, to absolute red. Among" the yellow 

 Rudbeckia flowers the creature was ochreous, and in general the 



1905 March i. 



