62 
Psyche 
[March 
“SHUTTLING” IN ARGIOPE AU RANT I A 
By F. L. Wells 
Harvard Medical School 
“Shuttling: The spider, resting at orb-centre, moves 
through the web and assumes a corresponding position on 
the opposite side. Seen almost exclusively in A. aurantia. 
. . (Psyche, 1936, 43, pp. 11-12) . The present paper goes 
on to discuss the data so far obtained, through observations 
in the field, concerning this relatively distinctive response 
pattern. 
The effective stimulus to shuttling is here the approxi- 
mating of a vibrating tuning fork, of 128 or 256 v.d. rate, 
to the dorsum of the spider, no web intervening or touched 
by the fork. In 1935 the 128 fork was generally used, in 
1936 the 256; in direct comparisons there has not been 
enough difference in the responses to justify their systematic 
separation for present purposes. Besides the shuttling 
behavior, various other kinds of reaction occur to this 
stimulus in A. aurantia , but only spreading, reaching and 
seizing 1 are of frequency significant for present purposes. 
No comparable phenomenon was observed by the writer 
in the other species concerned, viz. the closely related 
A. trifasciata , and the Eyeiras cavatica, domiciliorum , 
insularis , stellata, trifolium. To these species previously 
mentioned in this connection, are to be added C. conica and 
E. strix. 2 
These studies concern the seasons of 1935 and 1936 as 
above, but the procedures differed somewhat in the two 
years, and are presented separately. 
x For definitions of these terms, see the paper of above reference. 
Spreading, reaching and seizing are mutually continuous patterns, and 
their recording proceeds along the lines of a “rating scale.” The 
notation of such responses under field conditions presents problems 
similar to those dealt with by R. W. Washburn, J. Genet. Psychol. 
1932, 40, 84-89; Psychol. Monographs, 1936, 47, 74-82. 
^Taxonomy by advice of Professor Nathan Banks and Miss E. B. 
Bryant. 
