GENERAL COCOOXIXG HABITS OF SPIDERS. 



113 



bees upon the adjoining lines, and soon thereafter distribute themselves, as 

 is the custom witli Theridioids generally, to surroun.ling i)oints, where 

 they construct webs like the mother's. 



Another Theridioid spider, whose specific name is unknown to me, spins 

 a similar snare in like localities, and deposits therein several eggs, almost 

 resembling those of Serpentinum, except that tiiey are of a yellowish brown 

 color ami more spherical in shape. They have a i)retty appearance as they 

 hang amidst the crossed lines in the dusty and dusky sites which the 

 mother frec|uents. 



Among Lineweavers making several cocoons is Argyrodes trigonum. 



The species belongs to a genus quite famous for its hal)it of invading the 



snares of otlier 



Arg-y- species, particular- 

 rodes tri- , ,, , , 



ly those belongnig 



to its own tribe of 

 Retitelariae, and those Orb- 

 weavers that make com- 

 pound snares and thus af- 

 ford a suitable dwelling ])lace 

 in the labyrinth or maze of 

 crossed lines. I have ob- 

 served this habit in Trigo- 

 num, Imt have more fre- 

 quently found it in its own 

 snare. It is an awkwardly 

 shai)ed creature, and its odd 

 appearance is increased by 

 its habit of bunching its 

 legs together, and hanging 

 upon a few crossed lines in its snare, as represented at Fig. 109. In this 

 position it looks not unlike a trussed fowl in a green grocer's stall. 



Her cocoon is a pretty pyriform hanging basket, about one-fourth inch 

 in length and one-eighth in thickness, composed of stiff yellowish brown 

 silk. The ujiper part is a cone, rounded or tapering well to a point, at 

 which is attached a stiff white cord, by which it is fastened into its place 

 among the crossed lines of the snare. The lower part of the basket termi- 

 nates in a short projection from the middle. (Fig. 110.) The mother 

 makes several cocoons; I have found as many as three (Fig. 1U9) hanging 

 within a snare at one time, all of which were doubtless made by the little 

 mother. The cocoons are suspended by long, stout cords. When this 

 hanging basket cocoon is opened the eggs are seen loosely deposited in the 

 midst of a little puff of fiossy silk. I sometimes find at the bottom of the 

 cocoon a little hole, through which evidently the young have escaped after 

 hatching. 



V "^i^ 



Fig. 109. Argyrodes trigonum in her snare, with three 

 cocoons. (Natural size.l 



