MATERNAL INDUSTRY : COCOONS OF ORBWEAVERS. 



87 



Epeira cocoon in angle of a wall, protected 

 by a tent or palisade of lines. 



flossy cocoon case, the shelter of the bark being, no doubt, sufficient barrier 

 against assault of enemies and stress of weather. A favorite site of this 

 sort is the trunk of an old hickory tree, whose flaky outer bark, curled 

 up at the free ends, offers an acces- 

 sible retreat. 



A cocoon of Insularis, in my col- 

 lection, spun within a small j^aper 

 box, is a globular ball of 



, . yellow silken plush three- 

 Insularis. ■{ ■ t, • ^■ 



fourths of an mch in di- 

 ameter and of a light yellow color. 

 (See Plate IV., Vol. II.) It is hung 

 against the side of the box (Fig. 56) 

 in the midst of a maze of short right 

 lines an inch and a half wide and 

 high. These lines are knotted to- 

 gether at innumerable points, which are marked by little white dots. This 

 meshed envelope extends nearly to the cocoon, and certainly appears to 

 be a sufficient barricade against hyinenopterous invaders, although it was 

 not able to save the eggs from those universal and well nigh irresistible 

 pests of collections, tlie Dermestidse. I have another cocoon of this species 

 similarly disposed within an inverted glass tumbler, under which the 

 mother had been confined. She attached herself to the bottom of the 

 glass (the top when inverted), and, as is the custom of her kind, hung 

 there back downward until the period of cocooning. (Fig. 57.) Not long 



after she died, and her dried 

 up form is partly shown in 

 the drawing. The spots 

 upon the glass represent the 

 points of attachment for the 

 supporting lines of the co- 

 coon, and are little pats of 

 adhering silk. 



Sometimes cocoons are 

 found laid against a leaf 

 which has been drawn 

 around it, as at Figs. 58 

 and 59, reminding one of 

 the manner in which cer- 

 tain lepidopterous larvte 

 protect themselves before they pass into the pupa state. When this sort 

 of protection is secured for the eggs, viz., a leafy covering around the 

 egg pad, no further envelope is added, precisely as when the eggs are 

 laid upon the under side of bark and stones. 



Fig. 62. Cocoon of Epeira doniicilioruni, woven upon a pine tree. 



