112 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 



held only at the front edge. The skin of the 

 abdomen breaks irregularly along the sides and 

 back, and shrinks together in a bunch. The 

 spider now hangs by a short thread from the 

 spinnerets, and works to free her legs from the 

 old skin, Fig. 66. This takes about quarter 

 of an hour ; and then she drops down, hanging 

 by her spinnerets like a wet rag, Fig. 67. 



If struck while in this condition, she can do 

 nothing, not even draw her legs away. After 

 ten or fifteen minutes, the legs begin to 

 strengthen ; and she draws them gradually up 

 toward her, works them up and down a few 

 times, and is soon able to get into the web 

 again. 



Blackwall observed nine moults in Tegenaria 

 civilis, a spider that lives several years. Many 

 species, and among them some of the largest, 

 live only one year, hatching in the winter, 

 leaving the cocoon in early summer, and laying 

 eggs and dying in autumn. Other species 

 seem to require two years for their growth ; 

 hatching in summer, passing their first winter 

 half grown, growing up the next summer, but 

 laying no eggs till the second spring. Some 



