CHAPTER IL 



MEMORY, MIMICRY, AND PARASITISM. 



I. 



An interesting example of the power of spiders to adapt themselves 

 and their industry to circumstances occurred under my observation in the 

 case of a Turret spider, Lycosa arenicola. Wishing to preserve 

 Intelli- ,j j-jgg(. ^Q study the life history of its occupant, I carefully took 

 ?T^ ^^ up the sod containing the tube, carrying away with me several 

 inches in depth of the burrow. The upi^er and lower openings 

 were plugged with cotton to retain the spider during transit. Upon arrival 



,;Y- n of the nest in Philadeli)hia 



,^ '; * ■ . i 



the cotton plug guarding the 

 entrance was removed, but 

 the other was forgotten, and 

 thus allowed to remain. The 

 nest with the enclosing sod 

 was imbedded in the soil in- 

 side of a tub, and the spider 

 left to work out naturally its 

 industrial instincts. It im- 

 mediately began removing 

 the cotton at the bottom of 

 its burrow, and cast some of 

 it out upon the surface. But 

 finally, guided, apparently by 

 its sense of touch, to the 



Fig. 38. Cotton lined nest of Turret spider. knowledge that the SOftcr 



fibres of the cotton would be an excellent material with which to line its 

 tube, she put it to that use, and had soon spread a smooth layer over the 

 inner surface and upon the opening. In this manner the interior was 

 padded for about four inches from the summit of the tower downward. 

 It may be taken for granted that this Turret spider for the first time had 

 come in contact with such material as cotton, and had immediately utilized 

 its new experience by substituting the soft fibre for the ordinary silken 

 lining, or rather by adding it thereto. This nest, with the cotton wadding, 

 is represented at Fig. 38. The cotton was distributed quite evenly over the 



"^^-fe 



