COCOONS 359 



simple silken case closely investing the eggs, and by its thickness 

 and the non-conducting quality of the material, sufficient pro- 

 tection is afforded against inclement weather. 



The egg-bag of the large Garden-spider (E. diademata) may 

 be recognised by its great size and its yellow colour, which is 

 deepened by the still more yellow tint of the eggs within. 

 Those of Zilla x-notata and of many other English Epeirids are 

 of similar structure, but of white silk. The mother generally 

 avails herself of some natural shelter, hiding her cocoon beneath 

 loose bark, in the crannies of masonry, or under the copings of 

 walls. 



Many species, on the contrary, boldly expose their cocoons in 

 their snares, sometimes as many as fourteen being constructed 

 in succession and strung in a chain. The American species 

 Epeira caudata and E. bifurca are good examples of this habit, 

 stringing a chain of characteristic cocoons upon the line connect- 

 ing the retreat with the web. 



The sedentary Theridiid spiders usually suspend their cocoons 

 in the neighbourhood of their irregular snares. The green cocoon 

 of Theridion sisyphium is generally more or less concealed by an 

 accumulation of debris. The minute species T. pallens constructs 

 a cocoon of peculiar shape on the under surface of a leaf (Fig. 

 196, B). It is a conical structure of white silk, considerably 

 larger than the spider itself, attached at its broad end, 1 and 

 having several curious lateral projections near the middle. 



Among the Lycosidae or " Wolf-spiders " the prevailing habit 

 of the mother is to carry the egg-bag attached beneath her 

 abdomen upon all her hunting excursions. It is spheroidal in 

 shape, made up of an upper and a lower half, with a seam-like 

 junction at the equator, so to speak. The lower half is first 

 woven, and the eggs are deposited within it. The upper hemi- 

 sphere is then spun, and the edges gathered in and finished off, the 

 seam or suture being always discernible. The bag is now attached 

 by silken threads to the spinnerets, and bumps merrily over 

 the ground as the animal hurries along in search of prey. If 

 deprived of it she evinces the greatest distress, and frequently 

 will not try to escape without it. 



Attempts to utilise Spider Silk. It is long since the web 



1 The figure of this cocoon has been accidentally inverted in the works of both 

 Blackball and Pickard-CambridKe. 



