MATERNAL INDUSTRY : COCOONS OF ORBWEAVERS. 



85 



its lethargy only the condition naturally preceding cocooning. The sec- 

 ond cocoon was a little larger and more flocculent than the first. 



After tins maternal duty the mother 

 disposed of the flies that were entangled 

 in her web, without any hesitation. This 

 was not the end of the matter, however, 

 for on the 14th of December, just three 

 weeks after the second cocoon had been 

 spun, a third was made, which was like- 

 wise attached to the web. On the after- 

 noon of January Oth, three weeks after 

 this last maternal act, the spider lost her 

 grip uj)on the meshes of her web and 

 fell dead to the floor, having been in tiie 

 possession of the observer three mouths. 



II. 



The genus Epeira, which includes our 



best known and most numerous species 



of Orbweavers, has little va- 



Cocoons. "*^^-^ among its most typical 

 species in the form of its co- 

 coons, the manner of protection, and 

 nature of sites selected for them. The 

 general form is that of a ball, hemi- 

 sphere, or semiovoid mass of thick, silken 

 floss, that enswathes a white silken bag, 

 within which a number of eggs, usual!}- 

 yellow, are massed. This is fastened in 

 any convenient and eligiljle position, at- 

 tached directly to the surface or hung 

 amid supjjorting threads. I have strip- 

 ped from a decaying trunk a bit of bark 

 eighteen inches long, on which one could 

 count forty or fifty of the.se cocoons in- 

 termingled with those of Agalena ntevia 

 and other Tubeweavers, and of Lateri- 

 grades, as well as the white silken tubes 

 of Salti grades. (Fig. 55.) Often the 

 dried bodies of the mothers, who had 

 died shortly after their last maternal 

 care and work, were found clinging to 

 the nurseries of their young. Wlien deiiosited in such sites the eggs 

 rarely have any other protection in the way of spinniugwork than the 



Fig. 55. Cocoons of Epeira undenieuth the 

 bark of an old tree. 



