While the temporary spirals are made as far apart as possible, the threads of the outer spiral are placed as close together as they can be without danger of their sticking to each other, and usually a little closer together toward the center of the web than they are at the outside. In fastening this thread to the rays of the web the spider first feels for the last thread with the first and second feet, and, having found it, turns the body slightly around and grasps the ray with the nearest foot of the fourth pair at a short distance from the point where the last thread crosses. After taking hold of the ray with the fourth foot, the spider turns down the abdomen so as to place the spinnerets against the ray and fastens the thread to it, at the same time holding the thread off with the other fourth foot to prevent its sticking to anything around it. The whole making of the web seems to be done entirely by feeling and is done as well in the dark as in daylight.

When the spider is active and the food supply good, a fresh web is made every day, the old one being torn down and thrown away. In tearing down a web [(fig. 382)] the spider walks out from the center on one of the rays and gathers in what web he can reach with the front feet, chews it into a ball, and drops it; then, having put in new rays in the cleared space, he goes to another part of the web and tears down another piece.

The variations between the webs of different species are chiefly in the central portion. In the webs of hortorum (p. [19]), gibberosa (p. [177]), and placida (p. [178]), which spend most of their time in the web, the close part of the inner spiral is very large, circular, and finely finished, usually showing no trace of the wide temporary spirals. The number of rays is very large, and there is a wide clear space between the inner and outer spirals. In Argiope the inner spiral is very large and widens gradually until it almost touches the outer spiral. It has a closely woven mat in the center and two zigzag bands of white silk extending up and down.

The webs of Tetragnatha, Meta, and Acrosoma have a hole in the middle, the irregular center being entirely removed. Insularis and trifolium live always in tent-shaped nests, with a thread, or several threads, leading to the center of the web. Globosa, labyrinthea, and Zilla have a similar thread from nest to web, and leave open a segment of the web through which it passes.

Insects flying through the web strike the sticky threads and, trying to free themselves, fall against others. The spider at the center of the web feels the movements of the insect and goes toward it by the nearest ray and, drawing out silk from the spinnerets, throws it around the insect until it is tied fast. Adult male Epeiridæ are seldom seen in webs of their own, but some of them do occasionally make webs. The male E. sclopetaria, for instance, sometimes makes a web nearly as large as that of the female and stands in it waiting for insects to be caught.