Fine Structure of the Thread Connections in the Orb Web of Araneus diadematus

Web-building spiders are valuable subjects for the study of be- havior since the spider provides a record of much of its behavior through its web. Descriptions of the gross structure of the web and the behavior of the spider during its construction can be found in Savory (1952), Jacobi-Kleemann (1953), and Witt, Reed, and Peakall (1968). However, the gross structure is only part of the spider's creation. The threads from which the web is constructed are only several microns thick. Consequently, the unaided human eye can determine basically only the position of the threads.