. 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. 148 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. Orb weavers. Each concentric of the scaffolding, which is marked by the arrows in the figure (Fig. 138),. Snare of Nephila, woveu on a wire hoop. (After Wilder.) makes a marked division between the in- termediary spirals, wliich are thus divided into groups or bands, adding much to the peculiar form of the snare. Wilder states ^ that the free sector or space uncovered by beaded spira
. 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. 148 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. Orb weavers. Each concentric of the scaffolding, which is marked by the arrows in the figure (Fig. 138),. Snare of Nephila, woveu on a wire hoop. (After Wilder.) makes a marked division between the in- termediary spirals, wliich are thus divided into groups or bands, adding much to the peculiar form of the snare. Wilder states ^ that the free sector or space uncovered by beaded spirals in the snare of Nephila, in natural site is equal on an average to about one-sixth the sur- face of the orb. He, however, gives a drawing of a web made by a spider in captivity vipon a circular wire frame, which has a free sector equal to two-thirds of the orb. 2 (Fig. 139.) No doubt this abnormal form was due to the artificial conditions under which the spider plied her industry. Prof. Wilder is sufficiently explicit in his description to allow us to present the diagramatic or restored web, Fig. 140, as approaching the characteristic form in natural site.^ It thus closely approximates that of Epeira triara- nea and Zilla. The spirals do not form complete circles, but are looped across the radii, in a manner already described, and in spinning them the spider does not move around the web, but returns upon her course from one side to a corresponding point on the other. The web thus made is strong enough to support a light straw hat when hung up- on it. Gosse speaks of the immense snares of Nephila as one of the obstructions to free travel Jamaica j^^ ^.j^^ woods of Jamaica. Nephila: ,,,, , Gosse. ihese, he says, are in- fested with the great long bodied spider with brush tufted vi lilfn H " 1 M p 1 l\m)^^Y 1 V / .^^\^^^^ J 4W\ 1. KiG. 140. A diagramatic snare of Nephila, composed from the descriptions and sketches of Prof. Wilder. ' ProcecdingH American Association, 1873,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectspiders, bookyear1889
