DEATH AND ITS DISGUISES. 



423 



Death fashion of Secunda. 



mummy, and a sepulclire amid the tangled tendrils of fragrant honeysuckle. 

 Not an undesiral)le kind of death and l)urial. 



The second example, the Secunda of my notes, hung upon an ampe- 

 lopsis vine against the chapel wall. I cjuote my journal :".... For 

 two days, September 28th, she has hung 

 absolutely inactive. Yesterday I touched 

 her, and she only slightly moved- her fore 

 legs, then .sank back into position. She is 

 entirely natural in her ai^pearance, and no 

 one observing her would suspect that any- 

 thing is the matter with her. This morn- 

 ing I put a vibrating tuning fork to one 

 of her legs, and the only sign of anima- 

 tion she gave was slowly but slighth' draw- 

 ing the legs towards her. Under ordinary circumstances this act would 

 have produced tlie wildest excitement. At four of the afternoon I repeated 

 the test, and action seemed to be a little more decided. The fore legs 

 were curved inward, and an hour afterward were not relaxed again. I 

 then touched the spider witli my finger, and she drew her legs up a little 



closer, making no further sign Sep- 

 tember 29th. Secunda has left her position 

 on tlie shield, crawled along the stem of an 

 adjoining leaf, and is hanging with her back 

 downward and her feet clasped around the 

 stem close up against the wall." (Fig. 360.) 

 For a week thereafter the record contin- 

 ued with little variation, except that Secunda 

 would shift her situation a little, several 

 inches to one side, and above or below. Once 

 after long hunting I discovered her by see- 

 ing her swing down by a thread between my 

 hands. She dropped six or seven inches, 

 climlicd up the thread .sluggishly, and re- 

 sumed position with her feet clasped above 

 the stem. I never could find her again. She 

 had doubtless nestled out of sight and died 

 in the fashion she had habitually maintained 

 during the few days immediately preceding 

 her disappearance. 



Anotlier example may be cited from ray 

 journal. It was followed up so closely and 

 continuously that it well illustrates the manner in which spiders pass away 

 from life. The animal was sixth of my series, and noted under the name 

 of Sexta. She was transferred from the banks of the Schuylkill River to 



A dead Argiope hanging in her 

 snare. (Sexta.) 



