Fig. 25.
Fig. 26.
A little spider, Argyrodes, belonging to the same family, lives among the upper threads of webs of this kind, without being troubled by the owner. It resembles in size and color the scales of pine-buds that often fall in the web, and may easily be mistaken for them. It probably spins a few threads of its own among the borrowed ones, and does, at times, make a separate web of its own.
The webs of Theridion usually have at some part a tent, or at least a thicker portion, under which the spider stands; and from this run irregularly simple threads, crossing each other in all directions, and held in place by threads above and below. Such irregular webs are made often in houses by Theridion vulgare, Hentz, in corners of rooms, under furniture, and in cellar-stairways. The same spider spins occasionally out of doors on fences, but never on plants. When it has caught an insect, and tied it up, it hoists it up into the web, sometimes a considerable distance.
They do this by fastening to it threads from above, which, as they dry, contract, and pull it up a little. They keep on bringing down more and more threads, until the insect is at last hoisted to the top of the web, where they can suck it without exposing themselves.
Pholcus, the long-legged cellar-spider, makes an irregular web of this kind, and has a curious habit when alarmed. It hangs down by its long legs, [Fig. 27], and swings its body around in a circle, so fast that it can hardly be seen. [Fig. 27], a, represents the spider as seen from below; and the dotted circle shows the path in which it revolves.