Some species live on walls and fences, making large webs that become conspicuous from the dust which they collect. Others prefer the tops of plants like stiff grass and the tops of golden-rod and spiræa. Others, like volupis [(fig. 474)], prefer leaves and the ends of growing branches. The webs are usually irregular, but sometimes are nearly round and formed by threads radiating from the spider's hole, crossed irregularly by other threads [(fig. 471)].

Dictyna volupis.—This species and frondea are brighter colored and more slender than muraria and volucripes [(fig. 484)] and live among the leaves of bushes. The female volupis has the legs pale, almost white, and the cephalothorax light brown, darker at the sides and light on the head [(fig. 474)]. The abdomen is yellow in the middle and brown, sometimes red, at the sides. The middle yellow portion forms a regular figure differing much in different individuals. The male is quite differently colored. The cephalothorax, which is larger, is bright orange brown, without much difference between the head and the sides [(fig. 475)]. The legs are light orange, darker than those of the female. The abdomen is dark reddish brown, sometimes over the whole back, but usually with a yellow irregular middle spot smaller than that of the female. The ends of the male palpi are dark colored and as large as the spider's head [(fig. 475)]. The hairs are very fine and light colored and do not modify the color as much as they do in the brown species. The length of volupis is not over an eighth of an inch. The abdomen is oval and not as wide or high as in volucripes and muraria. The head of the male is high, and the mandibles almost as long as the cephalothorax [(fig. 476)]. The lower half is turned sharply forward and flattened out at the end. The mandibles are light orange brown, so that their shape is more readily seen than in the dark species. The tooth on the front of the base of the mandibles is very large in this species [(fig. 477)].