Species Araneus cavaticus - Barn Spider

After being discontinued for 10 years, monographs are again being published in the excellent Insect and Arachnids of Canada series. This is the first of, hopefully, more to come. I'm sorry it took me 2 years to find out about this exciting development.

Can be ordered directly from the web starting at:
http://pubs.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/cgi-bin/rp/rp2_list_e?mlist3
or start at:
www.monographs.nrc.ca and see what else you can get.

As for the book itself it covers spiders of the Uloboridae, Tetragnathidae, Araneidae, and Theridiosomatidae and seems to be good for Canada and the northern USA. Their dot maps cover all of Canada and the continental USA and despite the title, just flipping through I don't see many that actually make it to Alaska. Indeed many of the species covered don't even come into Canada. Perhaps they are expected. I have not read the introduction extensively yet.

Book Description
1913. With a Preface by Maurice Maeterlinck. From the Preface: J.H. Fabre, as some few people know, is the author of half a score of well-filled volumes in which, under the title of Souvenirs Entomologiques, he has set down the results of fifty years of observations, study and experiment on the insects that seem to us the best-known and the most familiar: different species of wasps and wild bees, a few gnats, flies, beetles and caterpillars; in a word, all those vague, unconscious, rudimentary and almost nameless little lives which surround us on every side and which we contemplate with eyes that are amused, but already thinking of other things, when we open our window to welcome the first hours of spring, or when we go into the gardens or the fields to bask in the blue summer days. This volume focuses on the Spider.

The Rev. Henry C. McCook spent years researching and writing his 3 volume set, American Spiders and their Spinningwork. The three volumes were originally self-published in 1889, 1890, and 1894, under the auspices of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia (where McCook was vice-president). Primarily covering the orb-weaving spiders, there is plenty of material on jumping spiders, wandering spiders, trapdoor spiders, and other species. This is one of the most thorough examinations of the natural history of American spiders, but due to its scarcity (only a limited number of volumes were originally printed), it is not well known by spider enthusiasts today. For the purpose of this reprint, the text and figures of all three volumes have been placed in Book 1. The color plates have been placed in Book 2.

Genera and species should be cross-referenced at the World Spider Catalog for current nomenclature.