554 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Dec, 



described by Emerton, 9 McCook (I. c.) and myself (1903), and have 

 been figured by the last two. But their method of construction has not 

 yet been described, nor has any reference been made to a curious nest 

 in which the cocoon is placed and which may be called the "cocoon- 

 nest/' in distinction from the "progeny-nest." 



The Cocoon-nests. — These are found most frequently, as are the 

 progeny-nests, on the poison-ivy (Rhus toxicodendron), where three 

 terminal leaves are spun together to serve as a roof. The cocoon-nests 

 are much less frequent than the others, and most of the spiders carrying 

 cocoons in their jaws are not in such nests; therefore, it is probable 

 they are vacated by the spider before the hatching of the young, for 

 I have found the majority of the nests without spiders in them. The 

 wild nests are each an arched or bellied sheeting of silk placed in the 

 shelter of the under side of three poison-ivy leaves, each such sheeting 

 varying in dimensions from 1 x 1\ inches to about 2 x 2\ inches accord- 

 ing to the size of the mother (which varies greatly), and with two or 

 three apertures at its margins. Two of the spiders only of those that 

 formed cocoons in captivity constructed cocoon-nests, and each of 

 them not until three or four days after the cocoon was formed; these 

 two nests were beautiful inverted domes, fastened to the glass roofs 

 of the cages with a wide aperture below of about two inches diameter. 

 The latter two nests were quite unlike the natural cocoon-nests found 

 in the woods, and seemed to represent an attempt on the part of the 

 spider to replace the roofing of ivy-leaves; it was probably a similar 

 construction that Pappenheim observed in the case of Dolomedes. 

 The cocoon-nests found in the state of nature are probably receptacles 

 constructed by the spider in which to make her cocoon, and indeed 

 the most heavily pregnant female caught was taken from such a nest. 

 The Cocooning. — Spiders are found with cocoons in early June, and 

 they construct at least two during the summer. The cocoons vary much 

 in diameter, are held by the mother by her chelicera and pedipalpi 

 and also frequently by one or more pairs of legs, and are at the same 

 time generally fastened by a few lines to the cocoon-nest or to the plant 

 on which she lives. They are rarely left by the mother before the 

 young hatch. Nine females were kept isolated in large glass cages for 

 the observation of the cocooning; six of them made cocoons, all con- 

 structed in the early morning hours between midnight and 7 A.M. 

 This particular time of the day is unfortunate for the observer, for after 

 midnight one naturally seeks repose. But in one case a considerable 



• New England Lycosidse, Trans. Connecticut Acad. Sci., 1S85. 



