116 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



variegatum), a little spider not uncommon in England, which would arrest 



the attention of even an indifferent person. It is of an elegant pear shape, 



formed of a strong yellow brown silk network, and attached by 



, a long elastic stem of the same material to stalks of dead gi'ass, 

 variegata ^ 



sticks, or other substances in shady places. ^ It is often placed 



on the vnider side of rocks, stones, etc. The envelope is double, an inner 

 sac being formed of soft pale brown silk, loosely woven and enclosed in a 

 coarse covering of dark reddish brown threads, which unite and form the 

 stalk. The diameter of the cocoon is about one-eighth inch, and the length 

 of the stalk is from one-tenth to one-half an incli. The cocoon contains 

 about six brown eggs. The mother is one-eighth inch long. - 



Theridium pallens is a small English Lineweaver, about one-tenth of 



an inch long, that makes a cocoon a little longer than herself, containing 



about twenty pale yellow eggs. It is white, of a close, fine text- 



Therid- ^jj.g^ ^j-^j somewhat pear .shai^ed; with several conical prominences 



jj disposed in a circle around its greatest circumference. (Fig. 117.) 



The sexes pair in May ; the cocoon is forme<l in .June, and is 



found on shrubs and bushes, on heaths or near woods. ^ 



A Lineweaver which I find in our fields, and which I take to be The- 

 ridium differens (Fig. 118) makes a globular cocoon, about one-eighth inch 

 in diameter, a little larger than herself, which she hangs within 

 her snare of crossed lines that may often be found spun in the 

 interspaces formed by bending down the top and edges of a leaf. 

 The cocoon is rather flossy in its exterior. The cocoon of the 

 same species, or one closely resembling it, I find witliin the con- 

 cavity of a leaf, formed by pulling the pointed ends inward, as 

 at Fig. 119. The hollow is overspun with intersecting lines 

 which form the spider's snare and dwelling, and the lodging 

 place for her egg sac. The little mother is usually found near 

 her cocoon, which she often clasps with her legs, especiall}' at any suspicion 

 of danger. She is apt to lug it about from point to point witliin the leafy 

 bivouac thus prepared. 



A similar cocoon made by a Theridioid spider which I am unable to iden- 

 tify is represented at Fig. 120. The cocoon was a globular one, resembling in 

 appearance the last two described, but was hidden underneath a stone within 

 a little nest of characteristic spinningwork, but which on one side was protected 

 by a semicircular wall of clay, mingled with silk and attached to the under 

 surface of the stone. In this respect, the cocoon and cocoon nest resemble that 

 of Neriene rufipes and others of this genus as described by European writers. 

 Theridium lineatum Clerck is found among our American fauna, Emer- 

 ton'* having taken it in Massachusetts. It is conunon in Europe ; its cocoon 



' Cambridge. - Staveley, " British Spiders," page 156. 



= Blacliwall, " Spiders of Great Britain," page 195. * New England Therididie, page 10. 



