Spiders

Spiders are one of the mainstays of life in my Brooklyn backyard, which I persist in calling the Back 40 (inches). The following samples, however, were photographed in Massachusetts recently.

There are some 3400 spider species in North America north of Mexico. Some are web builders, making the classic orb web; some make sheetwebs. Some are jumpers, some are runners, some pounce from hiding. Estimates of how many individual spiders may be found in an acre of meadow reach two million plus. O my. And then there are the ones inside the house. Like these.

This next was found on a dirt road: