160 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



Fig. 192. Argiope cophinariii itiiiuediate- 

 ly after ovipositing. The spider is be- 

 neath the mass of newly laid eggs which 

 she has just begun to overspin. 



Argiope 



cophi- 



naria. 



a tiying box, and sat up with her until a late hour at niglit. During 

 a considerable portion of the evening she moved back and forth in the 



box, spinning lines from one side to the oth- 

 er, and finally settled in one corner as though 

 to rest. Thereupon I retired. 



Next morning at 5.35 o'clock I visited the 

 box, and found that the eggs had just been 

 laid, and enclosed within their first thin silk- 

 en pouch. A rectangular patch of yellowish 

 white silk was swung to the cross lines spun 

 the night before. Immediately beneath this 

 was a tuft of brownish silk, that enclosed a 

 tiny silken dish three-eighths of an inch in 

 diameter, which rested against the top piece, 

 with its concavity downwards. Against this dish Prima had oviposited 

 her eggs, forcing them upward evidently as she hung in position 

 beneath. At the time of my observation this was the position 

 of affairs. The eggs were in a hemispherical mass, and hung 

 downward, with no enclosure except the white silken pouch which 

 is the first covering the Orbweaver usually places upon the eggs. (Fig. 192.) 

 The mother remained for a few minutes beneath her esss, and then 

 began spinning the brown covering. Her' back was downwards, and her 

 feet curved upwards, holding to the supporting lines or to the 

 edges of the top piece. Gradually moving herself around in a 

 horizontal plane, she spun the threads upward against the top 

 part of the egg mass, attaching threads to the overhanging edges 

 of the flossy tuft already described. This action and position are repre- 

 sented by Fig. 193. At six o'clock and eight 

 minutes she rested for a few moments, and 

 at that time her work presented the appear- 

 ance represented at Fig. 193. 



Unfortunately, she was much hampered 

 by having lost two legs, which happened 

 to be the most important for her present 

 purpose, as one of them was tlie hind leg 

 used in spinning, and the other the first leg, 

 which is the guide, if I may so say, of the 

 spider's motion, being continually used to 

 feel the wav as she orooresses and pilot '''"■ '^■*- ^'s'^p'^ spinning up the brown 



leei lUC V\ay <lb MIB piUf,lt?&&t!&, aiiu piiui padding around her eggs. The hind leg is 



her into tlie proper course. Thus mutilated. 

 Prima probaljly was twice as long accom- 

 plishing her task as she otherwise would have been, since she only had 

 one leg with which to draw out and pack the silk as it issued from the 

 spinnei-ets. Nevertheless, she managed affairs very handsomely. 



The 



Brown 



Pad. 



shown drawing out the silk, and the bunch 

 of loops is shown against the cocoon. 



