154 . AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



spiders tluit protect tlieir cocoons by deportation, in this resiiect allying 

 the Laterigrades to the Citigrades, Territelariai, and the few known spe- 

 cies of Retitelaria;, by whom cocoons are deported. 



VII. 



The cocooning liabit continues, apparently without any marked change 

 from tiie normal methods, under the most decided changes of environ- 

 ment and even of life economy and constitution. This is shown 

 ~ ., by some studies made of the cave fauna of the United States. 



Prof. A. S. Packard, Jr.,^ accompanied by Profs. Shaler and 

 F. G. Sanborn, collected a number of spiders from Mammoth, Wyan- 

 dotte, Bradford, Carter, and Weyer's Caves, obtaining about one hundred 

 specimens in nine species. Six of these, all belonging to the Theridioids, 

 were found in considerable numbers in the larger caves, where there is 

 little or no light, and the climate is little affected by outside changes. 

 These, judging from the printed descriptions, follow closely the character- 

 istic cocoonery of like species in the open air. 



The well known cave species Anthrobia mammouthia was collected, to- 

 gether with cocoons, in the Mammoth Cave under a stone in dry, but not 

 the driest, places. On the bottom and at different points in the 

 Anthro- ^.j^yg sometimes two or three cocoons would be found under a 

 la mam-g^^j_^g ^^^ large as a man's head. The cocoons were orbicular, 

 flattened, one-eighth inch in diameter, formed of fine silk, and 

 contained from two to five eggs. They occurred with eggs in which the 

 blastodemic cells were just formed, April 25th. The eggs were few in 

 number, and seemed large for so small a spider, being twenty-five thou- 

 sandths of an inch in diameter. Packard was unable to trace the devel- 

 opment of the young and ascertain if the embryos are provided with 

 rudimentary eyes. Two young Anthrobias were hatched out March 3d in 

 his room. 



Nesticus pallidus ^ was found in Fountain Cave, Virginia, among sta- 

 lactites where there was no daylight. It spins a weak, irregular 

 ^iVfi^^^ web, consisting of a few threads, according to Packard. ^ Among 

 these threads several loose cocoons were found, one containing 

 thirty or forty young just hatched. 



Several years ago I received from Prof. Joseph Leidy two spiders col- 

 lected by him in Luray Cavern, which appear to be Linyphia weyeri. 

 The specimens were not accompanied by any notes as to snares or location, 

 but I have recently received some information concerning Luray spiders 



'■ "The Invertebrate Fauna of Kentucky and Adjoining States." American Naturalist, 

 Vol. IX., page 274. 



^ Emerton, " Notes on Spiders from Caves, etc.," Amer. Natr., Vol. IX., page 279. 

 " Id., page 277. 



