. American spiders and their spinning work. A natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits. Spiders. 266 AMERICAN SPIDEES AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. At other times, much to my surprise, after tlie thread had been quite lost to view, the spider was supposed to be far away upon its flight, it would descend as from the clouds, and send out its silken grapnels against the cheek or nose. The will of the little spider seemed to have no control over these movements, which apparently were always wholly at the mercy of the wind. However,
. American spiders and their spinning work. A natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits. Spiders. 266 AMERICAN SPIDEES AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. At other times, much to my surprise, after tlie thread had been quite lost to view, the spider was supposed to be far away upon its flight, it would descend as from the clouds, and send out its silken grapnels against the cheek or nose. The will of the little spider seemed to have no control over these movements, which apparently were always wholly at the mercy of the wind. However, the manner of accomjjlishing aerial flight by means of the buoyancy of a single thread, or rather of two threads united at or near the middle, was quite in accord with the methods above de- scribed. V. While the young balloonists were adventuring their fligiit in the flelds in the manner heretofore described, several species of small Orbweavers were making or waiting for their ascension in a manner so dif- ferent that it requires espe- cial notice. These were sta- tioned upon the small grass- es and weeds, from which innumerable cords of spider silk were streaming, and up- on which similar threads were twisted and meshed by the eddies of the wind and the passing of the spider- lings from point to point. The attitude of most of these was one of expecta- tion. Only two were ob- served in actual flight, and one of these I assisted. The nearness to the ground and the shelter of surrounding herbage doubtless retarded the process. However, this greater deliberateness is quite in harmony with the more phlegmatic Orbweavers, just as the energy of the Lycosids in mounting the fence and their haste to be off are characteristic of that group. The little Orbweavers were hanging upon the lower part of the floating strings near the point of attachment to the grass. Their backs were downward and their heads outward, or toward the free end of the thread. (Fig. 276.) The first, second, and four
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectspiders, bookyear1889
