110 KANSAS UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



hatch, when she prepares a nest for it. This is commonly 

 made by drawing together a bunch of leaves, on bush or herb, 

 with a web of silk. Such a retreat may be three or four inches 

 in diameter. It bears some resemblance to the nest of a tent 

 caterpillar, save that the web is not so dense. For two or three 

 weeks the mother spider watches over this nursery, probably 

 supplying the young with food. If one approaches quietly he 

 always finds the spiderlings massed into a little ball, which, 

 however, breaks up into scores of scurrying atoms at the least 

 alarm. The mother's position is always on the outside of the 

 nest, usually near the lower side. 



Family SICARIID^. 



These Six-eyed spiders are not at all common in our country. 

 Marx catalogues one species of Scytodes and two of Loxosceles. 

 Cocooning habits in the two subfamilies, Sicariime and Scy- 

 todinse, are in marked contrast. Members of the former group 

 deposit their eggs under the arch of a stone, enclosing them in 

 a thin cocoon of adherent material. This, in turn, they cover 

 over with a layer of fine earth, free from trash and dirt, and 

 so dry that it crumbles readily. The whole has the form of a 

 depressed hemisphere. The Scytodinre, on the other hand, all 

 carry their cocoons in their chelicerse, held close to the sternum. 

 They are globular, and brownish or violet in color. 



Family THERIDIID^. 



A large family of line-weavers, including among its species 

 those that form the familiar cobwebs in buildings. The cocoons 

 are usually round, flabby little balls, several of which are 

 fashioned at intervals during the summer by the same spider. 

 They are hung in the web occupied by the mother, or, in the 

 case of some of the smaller Theridiidte, placed in the hollow of 

 a leaf whose edges have been drawn together. In these situa- 

 tions they may be further protected by bits of dried leaves, 

 fragments of insects, or little tents of silk. Some species of 

 the genus TJieriduJa, departing from the general custom, make 

 only one cocoon, which they carry about attached to their spin- 

 nerets. Theridion carolinum, a British species, is also said 

 to have this habit. A common practice among some of the 

 smaller species is to pick up a cocoon at the approach of danger, 

 or when its location does not suit the mother, and carry it to 



