550 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Dec. , 



and since the process must have occurred before the first coition, this 

 particular individual must have accomplished the process at least 

 three times. But I have seen no evidence that a replenishing of the 

 palpal organ is necessary after each copulation ; the charging of them 

 is generally sufficient for a number of copulations, the number probably 

 varying with their duration. 



2. The Atypical Habits of Ariadna. 



In all cases of egg-laying so far known in Araneads the process is 

 strangely uniform even though the finished cocoons may differ greatly 

 in form and texture. A base is first spun, a drop of viscid secretion 

 emitted from the genital aperture upon it, the eggs discharged into 

 this drop, then a cover spun around the egg mass. I have watched 

 the details of this process in so many instances, and in such a variety 

 of forms (Aviculariids, Thomisids, Drassids, Lycosids, Epeirids, 

 Theridiids, Sicariids, Agelenids, Dictynids, Attids, Filistatids, Pisau- 

 rids), that I had come to believe it was the universal process in spiders. 

 But in the interesting Dysderid Ariadna (Pylorus) bicolor (Hentz) a 

 form was found that builds no cocoon at all, and that lays its eggs in 

 a drop of salivary secretion. 



This species is common in certain open fields at Woods Hole, where 

 it makes its nest on the under side of stones. No adult males were 

 found from early in June until the middle of September, when I ceased 

 my observations. It constructs a firm and rather tough silken tube, 

 up to nearly three inches in length in the case of large individuals, 

 quite viscid, so that foreign objects readily adhere to its outer surface. 

 Generally the tube has a single opening that flares outwards something 

 like a funnel, and has been figured and described by McCook 2 , but 

 sometimes there is an opening at each end, and this is not infrequent 

 in the case of nests spun in captivity. Kept in artificial cages the 

 spiders sometimes wander out of their nests at night; but for the most 

 part they remain within them, at the enlarged entrance, with the 

 three anterior pairs of legs extended forwards ready to seize prey and 

 drag it into the nest, — as well described by Hentz. 3 Frequently a 

 colony of them is found beneath a single stone, and then their nests 

 are sometimes contiguous with each other and with those of Phidippus 

 and Drassus; but they are not strictly colonial, for they are cannibals 

 whenever an opportunity offers. In captivity they appear to spin 



2 American Spiders and Their Spinning Work, Vol. II, Philadelphia, 1S90. 



3 The Spiders of the United States, ed. Burgess, Boston, 1875. 



