CHAPTER VI. 



COMPARATIVE COCOONING INDUSTRIES. 



In this chapter I propose to review the cocooning industry of spiders 

 as given in the last two chapters. In order to compare those methods of 

 spinning the cocoon which characterize the genera of the several Tribes, 

 I shall first describe in detail the manner in which Argiope cophinaria 

 constructs her cocoon. 



No single point, in my study of aranead spinningwork, has been a 

 subject of more prolonged attention, and the cause of greater disappoint- 

 ment, than the mode practiced by the mother spider in overspinning and 

 protecting her eggs. I strongly desired to see and describe the entire 

 process on the part of at least one species, and, if possible, of several 

 species. To this end I have year after year sought the natural sites at 

 the cocooning time, and have kept watch, day and night, personally and 

 by proxy, over numbers of gravid females confined within various boxes, 

 jars, and other objects. I have tried to make the artificial conditions as 

 favorable and natural as possible. Notwithstanding all the patience and 

 ingenuity expended upon the observations, I am compelled to confess that 

 the secretiveness of the female spider has been a fair match for my curiosity. 



It is true that I have made many observations of the process of cocoon 

 making at various points of the same, ranging all along from the first 

 stages to the last. Yet I have never had the opportunity to see the entire 

 process in any one species or genus, and, indeed, there are one or two 

 points of the process which I have never seen in any species of any 

 family. Nevertheless, I have observed nearly all the stages of construc- 

 tion in the case of Argiope cophinaria, and am therefore able to describe 

 methods of spinningwork which, if they have heretofore been observed, 

 have at least never been made known. The description of this industry 

 will form the first section of the present chapter. Thereafter will be in- 

 troduced some conclusions which a comparative view of cocooning indus- 

 try has suggested to my mind. 



I observed one of ray Argiopes, which I will distinguish as Prima for 

 convenience' sake, shortly after she had left her snare upon an ainpelopsis 

 vine, crawling along stems under leaves witli that uneasy demeanor which 

 commonly indicates that the crisis of maternity is near. I placed her in 



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