Jan. 1, 18G8.] 



HAUDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



13 



foster-mother. Ill three of the four other nests 

 broods soon followed ; these remained with the 

 mothers until the young had attained a considerable 

 size,— a period of several weeks. The first, and 

 probably the second moult, takes place within the 

 nest; the third, after the young spider has com- 

 menced life on its own account. 



Fig. 3. Nest with dead leaves, twigs, &c. 



The eggs were enclosed in nearly spherical cocoons 

 of yellowish-white silk ; the diameter of each 

 cocoon being about one-eighth of an inch, and each 

 contained about 30 eggs (arachnologists say that 

 the cocoons of this species contaiu from 20 to 60) ; 

 I had, therefore, about 120 young Theridions in my 

 nursery : of these but four were males. Although 

 so numerous, these juveniles appeared to be on very 

 good terms, seldom engaging in any quarrels — not so 

 frequently as the same number of boys in a school 

 would have done. 



When an insect is entrapped in the snare of the 

 Theridion, she comes to the entrance of her nest to 

 reconnoitre, and then, descending her cable, ap- 

 proaches the creature ; if too large to carry off at 

 once, she elevates her abdomen towards the un- 

 fortunate victim, and, by a curious movement of her 

 two hindermost legs, draws from her spinners a 

 thread with which she entangles its feet, and this 

 without actually touching them. The line is so 

 fine and the motion so rapid that it is difficult to 

 ascertain the exact process ; she, however, appears 

 to give the thread as it issues from the spinners a 

 curved motion ; thus enabling her to entangle poor 

 fly without risk of damage to her own person. 



Having accomplished this feat, Mrs. Theridion 

 returns to the mouth of her nest, and patiently 

 awaits the exhaustion of her prey, when another 

 visit is made, and if necessary the operation re- 

 peated, when, weakened by its unavailing strug- 

 gles, a line is attached to the captured fly, which is 

 drawn up to the nest to have its juices extracted at 

 leisure. The food of this spider is principally ants, 

 and I have found many deserted nests literally full 

 of the remains of these creatures. The spiders 

 kept by me have all been fed with house-flies, and, 

 notwithstanding the fineness of the threads of which 

 the snares are composed, so tenacious are they, and 

 so sreat the number and size of the viscid globules, 



Fig. 4. Nest made of materials artificially supplied. 



that I have seldom observed one escape after en- 

 tanglement. It is most amusing to watch the 

 proceedings of the juveniles when the mother is 

 endeavouring to capture a fly. Hearing or seeing a 

 disturbance, a young spider cautiously descends a 

 line, followed at a distance by another and another ; 

 these, approaching the victim, are evidently as 

 anxious to assist the mother as children are to use 

 their little fingers when they see others busy ; the 

 fly struggles, and away scamper the young spiders 

 as fast as tiny legs can carry them, repeating this 

 process until they can with safety make a meal 

 off poor fly. The Theridion exhibits the same 

 wonderful affection for her eggs and young that is 

 so marked a character in the history of other 



