38 
Psyche 
[March-June 
to change according to the same pattern for thread length (Reed, 
Witt & Scarboro, 1969; Witt, Rawlings & Reed, 1972). The de- 
crease of the thread length may be due to the thickening of the 
threads as the weight of the spider increases (Christiansen et al., 
1962). The males follow the same pattern of web-changes as the 
females of the same species, except for the catching area. The gen- 
eral effect is that young Araneus diademcitus males build small, 
fine-meshed webs (Fig. 7) ; and during the onset of the last inter- 
molt build large, wide-meshed webs; males at the end of the last 
intermolt, without changing weight and leg-length significantly, build 
medium meshed webs. Therefore it appears that web size cannot 
simply be explained by the spider’s bodily dimensions (Witt, Rawl- 
ings & Reed, 1972; Reed, Witt & Scarboro, 1969). 
Comparison of the webs of the FG and SG males 
at the same age 
All the webs photographed between the 9th and 12th weeks post 
hatching of five FG males of both sets were measured. So were the 
webs of eight SG males of both sets during the same period of time. 
All these spiders were at the same age, but the five FG spiders were 
almost mature and the eight SG males were 100 days before reach- 
ing maturation. Table 2 shows the figures for spiral area, mesh size, 
thread length and a measure of the regularity of the spacing of the 
threads (standard error of median mesh size North). The two 
measures of the body, and the four measures of the web show sig- 
nificant differences between the FG and SG males, with the excep- 
tion of the variance of the mesh size: the webs of the two groups 
show similar regularity. 
Table 2 
FG 
SG 
t 
P 
Body weight 
50.1 ± 19.0 mg 
22.6 ± 6.4 mg 
3.58 
0.005 
Leg length 
9.1 ± 1.70 mm 
6.68 ± 1.48 m 
2.49 
0.05 
Spiral area 
42,138 ± 9,883 mm 2 
13,956 ± 8,178 mm 2 
4.88 
0.001 
Mesh size 
58.60 ± 6.96 mm 2 
34.75 ± 10.08 mm 2 
4.05 
0.005 
Thread length 
16,066 ± 4,111 mm 
6,950 ± 3,282 mm 
4.07 
0.005 
SE median mesh 
size North 
0.114 ± 0.030 
0.162 ± 0.062 
1.47 
Measures of webs of the FG and SG males at the same age. Only the 
regularity measures in the last line are not significantly different. 
