224 AMERICAN SriDERS AND THEIR SPINNING WORK. 



The young of Epeira diadeniata, as observed in Europe,' liave a like 

 liabit. In the spring, when the spiders are newly hatched, almost as 



soon as they leave the eggs they spin a small irregular mass of 



English almost invisible lines, in the middle of which they cluster to- 



peira i- .^jj^j. forming themselves into a ball about the size of a cherry 



stone. ^ This hangs apparently in midair, and an observer ap- 

 proaching it to discover its nature touches some one of the slender lines 

 l)y which it is suspended, or some twig near enough to communicate mo- 

 tion to them. In an instant a hundred living atoms begin to disperse, 

 the solid little ball seeming for a moment to be turning into smoke, so 

 minute are the animals, so rapid are their n^otions, and so invisible the 

 means of their dispersion. After a few seconds, if the disturbance lie not 

 repeated, the little creatures begin to subside again into a cluster, which is 

 not at once restored to its former small size, since a thousand legs, how- 

 ever minute, require a little time for the necessary curling, packing, and 

 settling by which this animate sphere of snugging spiderlings is formed. 



A series of careful observations, made and communicated to me by 

 Mrs. Treat, confirm the above records and furnish some interesting details. 



Females of Epeira harrisonaj * were brought from New Hamp- 

 ^'^^ . shire to Vineland in October, and there made their cocoons in 



„ . , the same month. These the mothers fastened to the ceiling after 



the fashion of the Domicile spider, and as long as life lasted 

 manifested an unvarj'ing love and care for the future oifspring. As soon 

 as a cocoon was completed the mother addressed herself to protecting it 

 from insect foes and frost. For this purpose she scraped weather beaten 

 boards with her mandibles, and made little pellets of the gray chippings, 

 with which slie covered the cocoon, which thus resembled somewhat a nat- 

 ural inequality in the wood. 



The younglings did not leave the cocoon until the following spring. 

 When they first came out thej' moved abovit six inches distant and 

 formed a compact mass like a miniature swarm of bees, in which con- 

 dition they remained a day or two. Finally, the mass broke up and 

 formed four groups, in which they remained another day. Then they 

 separated, and the united spinning labors of the entire brood made a 

 thick web five or six inches in length and breadth. Herein they left 

 their first baby clothes strung thickly along the innumerable lines. There- 

 after they began to disperse, scattering everywhere around the liouse, each 

 spinning a perfect little orb not much larger than a silver dollar. At 

 this stage the observer began to look upon her spiderling emigrants with 

 dismay. Several hundred must have emerged from each cocoon ; and, 



' Staveley, British Spiders, page 239. 



^ There must be a mistake here as to size; the clusters of I>iaileniafa wmilil surely he 

 mueli larger. ^ Epeira cinerea Emertou. 



