Sunday, August 16 P.S.

Well, an argiope expert and golf have determined that the pictures we've posted recently are NOT Ariadne. This is a different spider. golf has named her Venus Lubentia (Roman goddess of gardens). So apparently Ariadne is R.I.P., but at least golf has a new spider buddy to entertain her. Yes, apparently, she is easily entertained . . . .

Comparison pictures shown below (click to see enlarged pictures). Now my little voice tells me we just might have a new egg sac to look forward to. Ariadne's was an unusual shape for an argiope aurantia, so we'll wait and see what Venus produces. It will be interesting to see if our garden lends itself to distorting spiders' instincts so they build egg sacs that are the wrong shape for the spiders' species.