THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



163 



THE COCOON OF THE RAY SPUIER (THERIDIOSOMA 



GEM MO SUM). 



BY THEO. H. SCHEFFER, MANHATTAN, KAN, 



The Ray Spiders live a retired life along the banks of some creek, 

 where overhanging bushes and projecting rocks afford the gloom which 

 they seem to seek. In such locations, especially in the dark recesses 



under clusters of roots, v/e may 

 look for their cocoons in .mid- 

 summer. They are among the 

 most interesting to be found — 

 little golden-brown balls, about one- 

 eighth of an inch in diameter, 

 suspended by a single glossy-white 

 thread nearly an inch long. They 

 are paper-like in texture and are 

 attached to their stiff silken pedicels 

 by a dilation of the latter in the 

 form of a cone. At the time of 

 hatching this little cone lifts up like 

 a lid, adhering by merely a point 

 of the circumference, and uncovers 

 a small circular hole through which 

 the young escape. The pedicel 

 itself usually hangs suspended from 

 two or three cross lines of silk 

 (Fig. 6.) 



From some cocoons collected in the vicinity of Ithaca, N. Y., on 

 August 23, the young spiders emerged August 28. Females imprisoned 

 in glass tubes about the same time also spun cocoons. 



Fig. 6. 



attached to surrounding objects. 



ANNUAL MEETING OF THE MONTREAL BRANCH. 



The 31st annual meeting of the Montreal Branch of the Entomological 

 Society of Ontario was held on May 9th in the Library of the Natural 

 History Society. All the reports of the officers showed good progress 

 during the past year. The membership roll contains twenty-two names, 

 two of whom are honorary members. The following officers were elected 



