SCHEFFER : COCOONING HABITS OF SPIDERS. Ill 



some other place, there to deposit it or stand clasping it for 

 hours. Some few also are said to clasp their cocoons at all 

 times except when getting food. After the young have hatched 

 they remain in the snare with the mother for some time. 

 Blackwall states that during this period Theridion livieatum sup- 

 plies its young with food. 



Txpe: Theridion tepidariorum. 



A common cobweb weaver in outbuildings and in recesses 

 along the rock walls of gorges. At any time from midsummer 

 until long after frost one may find their cocoons suspended in 

 the top of their snares, while the female hangs back downward 

 below them. The number of cocoons varies from two or three 

 to as many as seven. Each one represents a separate brood, 

 and an inspection of all the cocoons in a snare at any particular 

 time will usually reveal some that are deserted, some that con- 

 tain eggs, and some that are filled with newly hatched young. 

 Such conditions prevail as late as the first days of November. 

 In the warmer part of the season the cocoons have no protective 

 covering of foreign material, but those observed after frost are 

 usually covered with pieces of dead leaves that could not be dis- 

 posed as found except by design of the mother spider. The 

 cocoons are little, brownish, balloon-shaped objects, with rather 

 weak, flabby walls. They vary a little in size, ranging from 

 one-fifth to one-third of an inch in diameter. Each contains 

 about 250 whitish eggs. These are not agglutinate, but adhere 

 slightly to the loose interior lining of the cocoon. After the 

 young have hatched they cluster around the outer surface of the 

 cocoon for some time. 



Type : Theridium lineatum. 



This is one of the species that places its cocoon on the lower 

 side of a leaf, the edges of which are drawn in by silken lines. 

 Under the additional protection of a slight network of white 

 silk, the mother stations herself here to keep watch over her 

 treasure, which, at the approach of danger, she clasps with her 

 palps and fore legs. The cocoon is perfectly round, about one- 

 fourth inch in diameter, of loose texture, and bluish green or 

 grayish in color. It contains from 100 to 160 yellowish-white 

 eggs, not agglutinate. After the young hatch they remain in 

 the nursery with the mother for a long time, and, according to 

 Blackwall, are supplied by her with food. 



