American spiders and their spinningworkA natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits . he tendency of the species, at the begin-ning of life, to preserve the characteristic open sector and free radius atthe toji uf the orb, is^ well shown, as also the* disj^osition to vary the loca-tion of the nest to right or left, according to convenience or whim. An old stone barn in the vicinity of rhilailclpliia lias at times pre-sented to me an ai)pearance most interesting and beautiful, by reason of the innnense number of orbwebs si)re
American spiders and their spinningworkA natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits . he tendency of the species, at the begin-ning of life, to preserve the characteristic open sector and free radius atthe toji uf the orb, is^ well shown, as also the* disj^osition to vary the loca-tion of the nest to right or left, according to convenience or whim. An old stone barn in the vicinity of rhilailclpliia lias at times pre-sented to me an ai)pearance most interesting and beautiful, by reason of the innnense number of orbwebs si)read over one of the TaD- . *; Placing the face close to the wall so as to get the right reflec- Barn. *i°^ °^ lig^t; I saw the whole surface of the building, from foun- dation to roof, covered with orbs as closely set as space wouldwell allow. Along the cornice of the roof they were especially massedin manner not at all unlike the community of Azara. As the morninglight played upon the beaded spirals and white strands, or flashed in rain-bow colors from gathered dewdrops, tlie whole showed a natural decoration COCOON LIFE AND BABYHOOD. 233. Fig. 256. A colony of Orbweaving spiders, formed on lines spun between boat housesextending into an inlet of the sea. 234 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. quite beyond the power of human art. These orbs were not all of onedimension, although multitudes did agree in size, but they were nearlyall of two species, Epeira strix and Epeira triaranea, principally the were undoubtedly composed of several broods of these ara-iieads, of an equal age, who had, under favorable circumstances,been distributed in the same vicinity. I may here again refer(see Vol. I., page 64) to the numerous colonies of Epeira sclo-petaria which domicile within u limited area upon the surfacesof the boat houses at Atlantic City and Cajie May, as another exampleof accidental rather than gregarious assemblage. These colonies spin their orbs betw
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectspiders, bookyear1890
