. American spiders and their spinningwork. A natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits . ew and glis-tened in the first 239 is a sketch ofa portion of web of Epeirastrix, from which a freshlycaptured insect had beentaken. The lines are drawnvery accurately from the act of captur-ing an insect it becomesnecessary for the spider topiece together the parts of the web which are separated either by thebreakage of the insects struggles or the intentional cutting of the spiderherself. This mending is done w
. American spiders and their spinningwork. A natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits . ew and glis-tened in the first 239 is a sketch ofa portion of web of Epeirastrix, from which a freshlycaptured insect had beentaken. The lines are drawnvery accurately from the act of captur-ing an insect it becomesnecessary for the spider topiece together the parts of the web which are separated either by thebreakage of the insects struggles or the intentional cutting of the spiderherself. This mending is done with great deftness and skill. Thebroken parts are held together by one or more of the feet, usuallythe hind feet. The claws on one side of the body graspMending qj-^^ portion of the armature, while those on the othergrasp the opposite broken part. At the same time athread is thrown out from the spinnerets, is attached tothe margins of the fracture, and the rent is pieced together in amanner impossible to describe, and indeed to observe at 240. gQ rapidly is it accomplished. Fig. 240 is of a broken radius spliced by Epeira Fig. 239. Section of Epeiras orb after an insect lias been captured. BrokenWebs. Piece ofbroken radius ji represents the radius; L, L, lines which were run along either spliced ^ by Epei-ra strix. side thereof; and W, a zigzag cross line by which the three straightlines were warped together. At other times the angular points ofthe fracture on either side are simply held together by one or more lines,as the case requires, thus taking the place of the sundered radii and lostspirals by which the segments had been held together. 266 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. It frequently occurs that the insects entangled upon a snare are never used by the spider; although a most voracious creature, her ap- Unused petite is necessarily limited, and, at all events, she becomes some- , , what dainty as her appetite is satisfied, and wi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidamericanspid, bookyear1889
