Page:The spiders of the northern states-1901.djvu/8

 Spiders, like most rapacious animals, live solitary, except in pairing time. The female, generally the stronger, kills and eats the male, whenever she can get one. When cne spider meets another it is a sure fight to the death. They resemble cats in character and habits; some wait patiently for hours for an insect to become entangled in their webs; others creep up to their victims, now and then halting, watching for an opportunity, and—calculating the distance —suddenly jumping on them. They are as fierce and bloodthirsty as a cat in attacking a weaker antagonist, and as cowardly in shrinking and retreating from a dangerous foe like a bee or wasp.

The spiders have been divided into two groups, the first containing the roving spiders which make no webs for catching their prey. These spiders are found wandering in the grass, under stones and wood- piles, on bushes, or sitting before their holes catching passing insects. Some of them spin webs for the protection of their eggs and young, for their dwellings, to change their skins, or to hibernate, while others spin tubes under stones in holes, etc. These spiders also spin threads in falling or jumping.

Tube web.

Agalena. Theridion. Efeira. Uloborus. Dictyna. The second group contains the sitting spiders, which weave a net to catch their prey and remain on or near it, to watch. Each kind constructs its net on a different plan. The grass spider spins an horizontal

(Gs)