. 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. 424 AMERICAN Sl'IDKKS AND TIIEIU SPINNINGWOKK. an ampelopsis vine upon the outer wall of my manse. For several weeks slic hung in the normal position of her species, frequently changed her web, and occupied herself in the usual manner of spiders. Dur- Sextas jjjg ^.qJj weather that occurred in the early part of October, Record I'^^^S, she appeared to be a little torpid, at least was decidedly inactive. Throughout those days she
. 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. 424 AMERICAN Sl'IDKKS AND TIIEIU SPINNINGWOKK. an ampelopsis vine upon the outer wall of my manse. For several weeks slic hung in the normal position of her species, frequently changed her web, and occupied herself in the usual manner of spiders. Dur- Sextas jjjg ^.qJj weather that occurred in the early part of October, Record I'^^^S, she appeared to be a little torpid, at least was decidedly inactive. Throughout those days she would move her legs when touched 1)}^ my finger or by a vibrating tuning fork, but showed little excitement. The last evidence of activity which she gave before passing into a lethargic condition was to move slowly to one end of her snare from the centre. The next day, October 4th, I found her with legs doubled quite over certain lines of her web, and rigid. There appeared to be a little life in her, but on the following morning, October 5th, she was hanging in the same position dead. (See Fig. 361.) The axis of her body was at right angles with the position in which the spider usually hangs; that is to say, she was stretched crosswise of her web. The limbs were all bent at the middle joints, in the angles of which the linework was looped. The spider appeared to be chiefly sustained in this way, although some of the feet were still attached to parts of the snare. I continue the description by extracts from my note book : " October 6th. Sexta hangs in the same position. October 7th. Ditto. October 8th. Certain lines in the web have given way so that the fore part of the body has dropped downward, causing the spider to hang now in lier natural position. (See Fig. 362.) The two pairs of hind legs are stretched out to their utmost extent, and the feet hold on mechanically to threads. The fore legs are bunched and bent, as in the first position, with very little change. The we
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectspiders, bookyear1889
