. 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. PROCURING FOOD AND FEEDING. 249 dropped into the snare. Vertebrata at once rushed towards these, but find- ing by lier touch that they were dead matter, instead of leaving the ob- Decei d •'^^^^ ^^^'^ ^^'^^ them towards her with her feet, passed them to her lips and palps, where they were held a moment until bit- ten entirely free from the lines. Then' the fore feet were reached up, and by a sharp snap of the claws the pieces w
. 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. PROCURING FOOD AND FEEDING. 249 dropped into the snare. Vertebrata at once rushed towards these, but find- ing by lier touch that they were dead matter, instead of leaving the ob- Decei d •'^^^^ ^^^'^ ^^'^^ them towards her with her feet, passed them to her lips and palps, where they were held a moment until bit- ten entirely free from the lines. Then' the fore feet were reached up, and by a sharp snap of the claws the pieces were thrown downwards out of the web. In this case, also, the Orb weaver was deceived. But very generally she is able to distinguisli between an artificial agitation and that produced by an insect. At least, I have frequently failed to draw a spider from her retreat by my most skillful manipulation of her snare. Blackwall is probably correct in his suggestion that the pulling mo- tions which I have described are intended to determine whether objects entangled in the toils are animate or inanimate. ^ At all events, it is true that by jerking the radii immediately in connection Use of ^^,j^jj ^^r^^ pjjj-t of the snare in Jerkinc which the insects are entangled, and then suddenly letting go their hold, the spiders produce a vibra- tory motion in the net which seldom fails to excite action in the ensnared insect. Guided by the struggles of her prey, the Orbweaver runs along the most contiguous radii to seize her victim, avoiding contact with the viscid lines as far as possible, and drawing out after her a thread attached to one of the lines near the centre of her net, which serves to facilitate her return. The manner in which insects are cap- tured may be observed at any time, and yet one may venture to describe the meth- od. When, the insect strikes the viscid spirals, one or more legs and one or other or both of the wings, or an antenna are usually first to Ltisect fggj ^j^j, vi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectspiders, bookyear1889
