. 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. 28 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. constructed by the joint labors of the wedded couple, and is a loosely framed den, with quite open meshes, spun upon the blossoming top or be- tween the stalks of grasses. ^ Of the beautiful European Orbweaver, Epeira quadrata, Menge states tliat towards the end of July he observed five nests in which the two sexes lived together peacefully. These nests are similar to those made Tempo
. 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. 28 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. constructed by the joint labors of the wedded couple, and is a loosely framed den, with quite open meshes, spun upon the blossoming top or be- tween the stalks of grasses. ^ Of the beautiful European Orbweaver, Epeira quadrata, Menge states tliat towards the end of July he observed five nests in which the two sexes lived together peacefully. These nests are similar to those made Tempo- )jy Qyj. Insular and Shamrock spiders, which are dens of folded rary esi- jgjj^^gg^ whose interiors are tapestried with silk. The female Quad- rata occupied the upper part of the nest, having her fore legs doubled up so that the knees projected above the head. The male occu- pied the opposite part of the tent, and kept his legs folded as conveniently as was possible under the circumstances without elevating the body. This, however, was not a permanent arrangement, but only a preliminary stage of courtship, and doubtless terminated when the act of pairing occurred. ^. FlO. 9. Fio. 10. Fig. 9, female, and Fig. 10, male Water spider, Argyroneta aquatica. (Aiter Blackwall.) i I have seen the male and female of our Epeira insularis and trifolium occu- pying the same tent, apparently under similar circumstances, and regarded the situation as exceptional. Certainly these species habitually live separate. The Abbe de Lignac, having placed a large number of Argyronetas in a bottle, found that they devoured each other. The male, says he, wliich was perhaps the only one, had been sacrificed to the jealousies omes- ^£ ^j^g females, who after him were mutually destroyed.^ Baron Walckenaer records a fact which appears to be contrary to this. He put a number of Water spiders in a glass vase along with some gold fishes. Within the vase he placed a bunch of coral, and observed a female make
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectspiders, bookyear1889
