COCOON LIKE AND BABYHOOD. 



235 



tannery. (Fig. 258.) I had never raised tlie tliought of a " community " 

 to account for these grouj)ings, for I knew that the species represented 

 tlierein had the solitary liabit cliaracteristic of Orbweavers. 



Another example fell under my observation, which more closely resem- 

 bled those cited by Darwin and Azara. I once found on the slopes of 

 Brush Mountain, Pennsylvania, just above the banks of the Juniata River, 

 a large colony of the young of Uloborus plumipes. Their i>retty horizontal 

 webs were spread over the tops of a clump of low laurel bushes covering 

 an area ten or twelve feet in diameter. It needed only increased size and 

 more vigorous spinningwork to establish a close correspondence between 

 the appearance of this brood's en- 

 campment and the " community " 

 of La Plata. 



A case somewhat similar to this 

 is recorded by Vinson as observed 

 in the African island of Reunion.^ 

 In the great net of the Epeiroids, 

 stretched between trees of Panda- 

 nus, one might count the inmates 

 living in colony (en famille), and 

 in real harmony. There were 

 found spiders of all ages and sizes ; 

 there were Nephila nigra and N. 

 inaurata, messmates so hearty; and 

 there came the Linyphise to estab- 

 lish themselves upon these huge 

 snares in order to glean the petty 

 prey. It is Vinson's opinion that 

 these little aranead parasites sought 

 the protection of the large Orb- 

 weavers by suspending themselves 

 thereto in innumerable quantities, 

 in order to avoid the birds and other enemies. Probably the " seeking " 

 consists in the simple and natural fact that the young were bred in the 

 neighborhood of the webs, and continued where they were hatched, avail- 

 ing themselves of the spare spaces in the webs of their gigantic kindred, 

 precisely as the little Furrow spiders of our figures. (Figs. 257, 258.) The 

 Linyphias, however, apparently presented a case of real nest parasitism. 



Fig. 258. "Squatter sovereignty." A colony of young 

 Epeira sclopetaria, formed upon a large orb in an 

 open window. 



X. 



Thus far our observations upon the habits of young spiders liave been 

 chiefly confined to the broods of Orbweavers. We turn now to consider 



' Araiioides iles Lsles de hi IvLninion, etc., pages xix., xxi. 



