GENERAL COCOONING HAIUTS OF SPIDERS. 



135 



Fig. 163. Female Se- 

 gestria canities. 



inward for two inches and more. The silk of the tube was fine, but the 

 flap of netted work by wliich it was attaclied to either side was of coarser 

 fibre. (See Fig. 162.) The tubes were spun all the way 

 up the fissure to tlie fork of the trunk. 



The sjsiders watch near the orifice of their tubes witli 

 the first tliree pairs of legs directed forward, an unusual 

 position, as spiders usually have only the first two pairs 

 thrust outward. 



The cocoon, containing twenty or thirty eggs, is placed 

 witiiin the inner part of the tube in July and August. 

 Emerton ^ saw one ui this position July 10th, and an- 

 other under a stone with a cocoon containing thirty-four 

 eggs. The English Dysdera honibergii spins her egg sac 

 within her tube in June ; it is an oval cell, within which 

 are from twenty to tliirty pinkish eggs loosely bound together. The cell is 

 slightly woven, and is covered with particles of gravel or other extraneous 

 matter. It thus appears that the cocooning habits of the genus as rep- 

 resented in Europe are the same as those of our American species. 



In material sent me from San Bernardino, California, by Mr. Wright, 

 were cocooning nests of a peculiar type made by a species of Segestria, 

 which appears to be new, and which I have named Segestria 

 canities. (Fig. 1G3.) The species was determined from young 

 spiders found enclosed in some of the cocoons. Subsecjuently, I 

 received from the same section, through Mrs. Eigenmann, two mature 

 females, which enabled me to confirm my previous determination, and 

 thus to identify the cocoons wliich are here described. The species is 

 shown at Fig. 163, and a view of the face at Fig. 164. ^ 



The mother Segestria spins a series of flattened disks, which are over- 

 laid one upon another like tiles upon a roof, and are bound by silken 

 threads somewhat after the fashion of Epeira labyrin- 

 thea's cocoons. This series of cocoons is sometimes three 

 inches or more in length. The examples sent me were 

 covered (apparently intentionally) with leaves, from the 

 jdant upon which the string had been suspended, resem- 

 bling the leaves of spruce or hemlock. Along tlie entire 

 length of one side of the cocoon string the mother 

 had spun a silken tube, within which she dwelt. The 

 manner in which the string is suspended is represented 

 in Fig. 165. It hangs within a maze of intersecting cross lines like the 



Segestria 

 canities. 



Fit;. IfrJ. View of eyes 

 and face of Segestria 

 canities. 



' Notes, Hentz's Spiders U. S., page 22^ 



- The spider is about tliree-eightb.'; incli long; tlie oephalothorax brown, the abdomen 

 bro\vni.sh yellow eovered thickly with white hair.*, which also strongly mark the cephalo- 

 thorax, suggesting its specific name. The legs are yellow, with limwu rings at the joints 

 and a similar ring in the middle of the tibia. 



