American spiders and their spinningworkA natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits . Fig. 1. Snare and nest of the Shamrock spider. The orb, nest, and surroundingsshow the field of courtship among Epeiroids. 18 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. It is perhaps not strange that there should be such wiile differences ofopinion, since the conclusions are based chiefly upon the indications ofcollections. Now, in Nature, the males show themselves in great-est numbers at the pairing period. They apjaear to mature alittle ear
American spiders and their spinningworkA natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits . Fig. 1. Snare and nest of the Shamrock spider. The orb, nest, and surroundingsshow the field of courtship among Epeiroids. 18 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. It is perhaps not strange that there should be such wiile differences ofopinion, since the conclusions are based chiefly upon the indications ofcollections. Now, in Nature, the males show themselves in great-est numbers at the pairing period. They apjaear to mature alittle earlier than the females, and their solicitations have beguneven before there is reasonable hope for favorable , at this particular time they may be found by a collector morereadily tlian at any other, and would show in larger numbers in his col-lection. As most males disap- SeveralGallants pear shortly after maturing, andare probably not long lived, whilethe female survives until aftercocooning, collections made afterthe mating time would be lack-ing in males. I have seen four males of theBanded and three of the Bas-ket Argiope respective-ly hanging at the sametime ui^on the marginof one females snare. I haveobserved two and three males ofthe Labyrinth spider waiting mthe outer courts of the habitationof the female of that species, andthe same number of the Insularspider ranged near the leafy bow-er of my lady Insularis. I haveseen two males of Agalena nteviaapproaching at one time the doorof their ladys silken chamber,although it must be said that oneof them promptly ran away whenhe found that his rival had comenearer than he. It is not unlikely that many females deposit their eggswithout previous fertilizing; at all events, I have frequently found cocoonscontaining infertile eggs. But in the long run, in view of such facts as-the above, it is scarcely
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectspiders, bookyear1890
