. 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. 224 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. The block was laid upon a rough plastered cellar window (in my church cel- lar) much frequented by spiders, and was overspun as indicated in the figure. The ridge of the pyi'amidal structure drooped between the tips of the wire hoop, quite like the main cable of a wire suspension bridge. From this numerous diverging lines stretched on either side to the edge of the block and the wind
. 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. 224 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. The block was laid upon a rough plastered cellar window (in my church cel- lar) much frequented by spiders, and was overspun as indicated in the figure. The ridge of the pyi'amidal structure drooped between the tips of the wire hoop, quite like the main cable of a wire suspension bridge. From this numerous diverging lines stretched on either side to the edge of the block and the window ledge beyond. Below the ridge cable and within the side guy lines a maze of thickened netted lines was spread, from which support- ing trestle like lines dropped down perpendicularly to the surface of the block. The spider her- self, with several white globular flossy co- coons and a bevy of younglings be- sides, was domiciled within a series of lines that extended from one of the wire tips (left hand of the cut) to the stone window frame. The resemblance of this struct- ure to the wire bridges or wooden trestlework of hu- man engineers is apparent at a glance. At times, when the sit- uation will al- low, the spin- ningwork of Theridium assumes even more decidedly the form of a nest. For example, in the horse stables of "Almora," the country seat of a gentleman resident at Wallingford, the windows are protected by a wide meshed wire frame. "Within the meshes and around the window frame a vast number of spiderlings of Theridium tepidariorum had colonized. The scant lines which Globular formed the original snares had gradually been thickened around Struct- ^i^Q margins, from which stay lines were thrown out in all di- rections. In the course of time the snare assumed the globular shape which is indicated in the cut. (Fig. 213.) Within the centre, which was more scantily woven and more open than elsewhere, the spider was established. This condition of the central
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectspiders, bookyear1889
