NEST MAKING: ITS ORIGIN AND USE. 



319 



This dragline she fastens to one of those which connect with the mouth 

 of her nest, and which just serve to suspend the object. Returning, an- 

 other thread is attached, and the piece is suspended midway between earth 

 and nest. A third trip serves to fix the substance at the mouth of her 

 domicile, to be afterward 

 more neatly arranged. 

 Several objects are thus 

 frequently suspended at 

 one time, giving the nest 

 a rather unfinished ap- 

 pearance, as represented 

 in the figures. 



Nests built in the 

 open air are almost im- 

 pervious to light, while 

 those built in confine- 

 ment admit the light 

 through the various in- 

 terstices left by angular 

 pieces of the building 

 material. The little crea- 

 ture seems unable to rem- 

 edy this, doubtless be- 



FiG. 298. Fig. 299. 



Fig. 298. Nest made of materials artificially supplied ; the lower part 

 of sticks. (Theridium riparium.) Fig. 2i)9. Nest with dead leaves, 

 twigs, etc., intermingled with pellets of earth. (Theridium riparium.) 



The 

 Snare. 



cause the natural site affords her better opportunity for the selection of 

 material adapted to her wants. 



The objects used are invariably built into the inner surfaces only; and 

 Mr. Robertson scarcely ever observed one of the busy little workmen on 

 the exterior of its house, excepting when forming a slight covering of silk- 

 on the upper part, which is sometimes done. 



The snare of the spider is spun downward from the mouth of her 

 tubular nest. The lines are the ordinary intersecting threads of 

 her species, which are so disposed that they enclose an inverted 

 funnel shaped space, the mouth of the nest representing the 

 point of the funnel. 



From some unknown cause these spiders sometimes left their homes 



with tlioir broods, built on the inside of a 

 branch irregular structures, one of which is 

 figured. (Fig. 300.) 



Ril)arium's nest is not simply a domicile for 

 tlie ])roprietor, but is a iinr.^^cry and home in 

 wliich to rear the young. The mother spins 

 several nearly spherical cocoons of yellowish white silk, the diameter of 

 each being about one-eighth of an inch, within which are contained 

 from thirty to sixty eggs. When the young are luitched, they remain 



Fi(;. 300. A rudimentary refuge, or ex 

 perimental nest. (Theridium ripa 

 rium.) 



