120 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



FUi. 124. The mother Pholcus haiif^ing in her .snare, 

 with cocoon held in her jaws. 



or July, is a pale brownish color, containing Ijrown eggs. It resorts to dark 

 and damp places, as cellars and the under surfaces of stones. It is cer- 

 tainly remarkable to find a Line- 

 weaving species thus approximat- 

 ing the Citigrades, from which it 

 so greatly difFers in other respects, 

 in the manner of caring for the 

 cocoon. 



But in this habit she is not 

 alone among her tribe. Theridium 

 carolinum forms in June a round 

 white cocoon one-tenth inch in di- 

 ameter, which she carries attached 

 by threads to her person. ^ A 

 pretty little Tlicridioid, Steatoda 

 maculata (Theridium maculatum 

 Linn.), is also said to carry about 

 its egg cocoon suspended between 

 the legs, and only relinquishes it 

 wheii force is used, regaining it 

 quickly if jiossible. 

 The cocoon of Pholcus phalangioides, which is perhaps the very simplest 

 in structure of all this tribe, and I may add of all the tribes, is simply a 

 Ph 1 S^'i^y covering which encloses the eggs, the whole being gatiiered 



into a globular mass. This is held by the spider witliin her 

 jaws as she hangs in lier ordinary i)Osition within her straggling weli of 

 intersecting lines. In this portage of her egg case Pholcus approaches the 

 habit of the Citi- 

 grades and Tunnel- 

 weavers. (Fig. 124.) 

 Scytodes thora- 

 cica Latr. (Scytodes 

 cameratus Hentz) 

 has been found by 

 Mr. Emerton, in 

 New England, as a 

 house spider, which 

 he supposes has 

 been imported from 



Europe. European observers note that this spider carries her cocoon under 

 her breastplate, in which position it is not secured by silken threads, but 

 is held by the falces and palpi. In this habit it resembles Pholcus, with 



Flii. t25. English Pholcus phalangioides. with her cocoon. (After Blackwall.) 



Staveley, " liritish Spiders," page 141. 



