are several loops going partly round the web. The web of Zilla consists entirely of such loops going three-quarters round the web, and returning, leaving a segment without any cross-threads, in which is the line from the centre to the spider’s nest, Fig. 29. The spider is shown carrying a fly to its nest attached to the spinnerets; and, if this is its usual habit, the web with an open segment is certainly more convenient than a complete one. [Illustration: Fig. 29.] The web of _Nephila plumipes_, described by Wilder, consists also of loops running round about quarter of a circle, Fig. 30; and in this web the smooth cross-lines which are first spun are not removed, but remain after it is finished. Fig. 31 shows part of one side of a web; the arrows marking the smooth thread, and the direction in which it was spun. [Illustration: Fig. 30.] _Argiope_, the large black and yellow autumn spiders, cross the middle of the web with a zig-zag band of white silk, which, as the web is obliquely hung, partly conceals the spider under it. These spiders also spin each side of the web, and two or three inches from it, a screen of irregular threads of unknown use. [Illustration: Fig. 31.] The round-web spiders are said to repair their webs by tearing out a dirty, tangled piece, and putting a new one in its place. Wilder says that _Nephila plumipes_ tears off and replaces half the web at one time. _Epeira vulgaris_ often takes away an old web, and puts a new one in the same place, tearing down the old in pieces, and putting in the rays of the new as it goes along. The spider walks on the nearest sound thread, and gathers in with her front-feet as much old web as she can tear off, and rolls it up with her palpi and mandibles into a ball, and, when it is tight enough not to stick to the web, drops it. As she walks along, gathering up the old web in front, she at the same time spins a new thread behind, and, when she gets to a suitable place, makes it fast as one of the rays of the new web. The common story has it, that the spider eats the old web. She certainly gathers it up in her mouth, and sometimes throws it away at once, but at other times sits and chews it a long time, with apparent pleasure. Most of the _Epeiridæ_ are brightly colored, and make no attempt at concealment when in the web. Others have odd shapes and colors, and hang in the web in such positions that they look like any thing but animals. Some species draw up their legs against their triangular abdomens, and look like bits of bark fallen into the web. Others are long and slender, and when at rest, either in the web or out, lay their legs close together before and behind their bodies, so as to look like straws. Others have oddly shaped abdomens, as Fig. 32, under which the rest of the body is partly concealed. [Illustration: Fig. 32.]