MATERNAL INSTINCTS : MOTHERHOOD. 197 



thereafter a door was seen in one side of the nest, out of which the spi- 

 derlings soon made their exit. They were quite lively ; several were on a 

 leaf; they seemed to be playing, springing at each other, then back into 

 the nest and out again. When the leaf was touched every one instantly 

 disappeared. 



At the next visit Mrs. Treat moved her pencil over the nest a little 



harshly. Instantly tlie spiderlings all Hed from the abode, springing in 



^ every direction; but, before leaving, every one must have fixed 



line-s'^' **■ ^'^''^''^^ *^ t^® 1®^^' ^01' ^^^ •'*oon returned, slowly ascending, 

 taking in their tiny cables, until they reached the leaf, when 

 they cautiously api)roached the nest. "I was somewhat puzzled at their 

 return, after such a ilight," says the writer, "until I saw the mother with 

 a fly and tlie little ones all around her sucking its juices. This, then, was 

 the reason of their remaining together — they were fed by her." 



This account is so fully detailed, and contains the evidence of such re- 

 peated and careful observation, that we have no room to doubt the fact 

 that the mother Nubillus maintains a remarkable degree of oversight and 

 care in behalf of her young during the period of their early life and 

 growth. The manner in which the spiderlings were covered again and 

 again within the silken egg sac, especially the extraordinary fact of one 

 being carried in the mouth and placed along with its comrades, suggests 

 to us a degree of maternal solicitude on the part of this aranead which 

 falls little short of that exhibited by the mothers of vertebrate animals. 

 If we add to this the fact, of which Mrs. Treat appears to have no doubt, 

 that the mother actually brought food to the nest and bestowed it upon 

 her offspring, we shall be compelled to place the mother aranead even yet 

 nearer to her vertebrate sisters in the quality of her maternal affection 

 and care. It is greatly to be regretted, however, that in this case, as well 

 as that of Dolomedes scriptus, only one example of so called feeding could 

 be observed and recorded. 



These detailed observations confirm the statements of Blackwall, that 

 " the young of some species live together for a considerable time, and in 

 many iiistances are sui)plied with sustenance by the mother ; " ^ and again, 

 that the young of Theridium riparium "remain with the mother for a 

 long period after quitting the cocoons, and are provided by her with food, 

 which consists chiefly of ants." -^ I have observed the young of spiders, 

 particularly of a small species of Dictyna,^ feeding upon parts of a dead 

 fly which the mother was eating. At least the young seemed to be feed- 

 ing, and I have the belief that they were doing so, although I could not 

 positively declare it, since they may have simply been resting upon the 

 limbs and other parts of the dead insect, after the manner of young 



' Spiders Gt. B. & I., Intro., page 7. 



^ Id., page 9, and Researches in Zoology, page 356. 



' Dictyna philoteichus, Vol. I., page 354. 



