46 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



II. 



I took a female Epeira trifolium from her nest in order to observe 

 the changes of color. She was kept within a glass vessel for forty-eight 

 hours, and then returned to her old web and placed upon it near 

 Memory ^^^^ centre. The web was about as when she left it. She paused 

 ° ''^°^' about a half minute, seized the trapline, taking precisely the 

 position and in the exact spot which she had occupied for sev- 

 eral days before. Did she remember her nest after the forty-eight hours' 

 interval ? The same fact as to memory of local snare and nest was tested 

 upon another Trifolium, with the same results. The example above quoted 

 indicates that Epeira trifolium preserved during twenty-four to forty-eight 

 hours a recollection, or at least a perception of some sort, of its old quar- 

 ters within its home nest. 



Yet stronger examples may be cited of spiders remembering their 

 homes. The Trajsdoor spider, for example, that constructs its ingenious 

 hinged door upon a bed of moss or lichen, and then covers the lid with 

 plants precisely like those surrounding it, when it leaves its den and 

 goes out upon excursions for food, and returns without difficulty to its 

 home, certainly has preserved distinct recollection of the location of that 

 home. 



Again, the Tiger spider makes a burrow underneath beds of moss, 

 erecting over it a vestibule or dome composed of the material everywhere 

 surrounding the spot. From this she sallies forth into the vici- 

 Sense of nage, often making wide excursions after prey, and returns 

 ,. either by day or night to her nest, notwithstanding its general 



likeness to the environment. This is true of Lycosids generally. 

 The mother Lycosa in the cocooning period oftens erects a cell or cave, 

 underneath a stone or in like positions, which is partly lined with silk, 

 and sometimes has a pretty approach to tlie surface between the sprays 

 of grass, clover, or other vegetation, as may be seen in Vol. II., page 144, 

 Fig. 175, with the nest of Lycosa scutulata. ^ From this retreat Lycosa 

 will sally forth after food, dragging her egg sac behind her. It may seem 

 a little strange that she should do so, and one might be inclined to think 

 her rather stupid not to leave this treasure at home. Nevertheless, she 

 attaches it to her spinnerets, and carries it with her in all her excursions, 

 and thereby, no doubt, saves it from parasitic and other enemies. Having 

 ^secured her food she returns to her cell, and notwithstanding the manner 

 in which it is secreted, finds it without difficulty. 



So also Saltigrade spiders, and others of like habit, who issue from 

 their silken cells to stalk their prey on walls and trees, appear to find their 

 way to their homes without difficulty. These facts indicate on the part of 



' This species is there erroneously given as Lycosa saccata. 



