332 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



flavicornis, a European species which is often constructed of small shells ; 

 and Fig. 324 illustrates the case or nest of the European Limnophilus pel- 

 lucidus, which is formed of large pieces of leaves laid flat over each other. 

 I am not familiar with the larva's method of putting together these 

 nests, although I have some very interesting ones in my possession, not 

 greatly differing in construction from those which are here illustrated. 

 The principle on which the various particles of material are collected and 

 placed together to form the perfect cover made by the little worm cannot 

 differ greatly, judging from architecture alone, from those which regulate 



Fig. 319. 

 Fig. 318.1 



Nests of Theridiuni (Fig. 318), and the Bag worm (Fig. 319). 



the behavior of Theridium riparium when she builds the nests described 



upon the preceding pages. (Fig. 318.) 



A like reflection is suggested by the work of the well known bag worm, 



or basket worm, Theridopterix ephemereeformis. (Fig, 319.) This is the 

 caterpillar of a species of moth, sometimes known as the house 

 builder moth (Oiketici). The insects are also called Canephorae, 

 or basket carriers, and the Germans call them Sacktrjiger, or 

 sack bearer. The baskets of the above species are among the 

 most familiar objects in this geographical district, and may be 



seen hanging in multitudes to the limbs of trees after the leaves have 



fallen in autumn. I have been greatly interested in studying the whole 



process by which these interesting objects are made, and have described it 



elsewhere. ■■^ 



Theridi- 

 um and 

 Bag 

 "Worm. 



^ The part above the horizontal line on the left of the figure was made of pellets of 

 day in natural site ; that below of material artifieially sui)plied. " Scienee Gossip," January, 

 1868, page 12, sq. 



^ In my "Tenants of an Old Farm," Chapter XIX., "Housekeeping in a Basket." 



