Writing Spider

This morning as I walked my daughter outside to meet the school bus, I saw in my garden a black and yellow garden spider. They are also sometimes called "Writing Spiders" this is because of the thick zig-zag line they create in the center of their webs. Supposedly they are harmless to people and will only bite if grabbed- but I wasn't taking any chances and used a digital zoom to get the photos! I have only ever seen one other spider like this- so I thought I would share her. The female spiders are bigger than males- and this spider is huge so I will call it a her! :-) They are also able to eat things twice their size and wikipedia says they can eat small bats. Kinda scary, but really neat!