244 Phylum Arthropoda 



When approaching a molt tarantulas cease feeding. No apprehension 

 need be felt over this lack of appetite even if it lasts for 2-3 weeks. 



If females heavy with eggs are brought into the laboratory they will 

 in time produce cocoons. These, if kept in a sufficiently warm room 

 exposed to sunlight , may produce young (600-1200). A more convenient 

 method of rearing young is to bring in cocoons from which the spiderlings 

 are about ready to emerge. The time required from oviposition to 

 emergence of young is about 6 weeks. 



KEEPING AVICULARIA AVICULARIA IN THE LABORATORY 



Mary L. Didlake, University of Kentucky 



GLASS stender dishes have furnished satisfactory, though rather 

 cramped, quarters for tropical spiders found in bunches of bananas 

 and brought to me. One large Bird Spider (Avicularia avicularia) I have 

 kept now for seven years. It has molted eleven times and measures 2% 

 inches from the front of the cephalothorax to the tip of the abdomen. 

 I use a pair of long forceps for moving the spiders to clean quarters. 

 They drink readily from a smaller, 2 -inch stender dish, catch living food 

 put in for them (caterpillars, grasshoppers, roaches) and will, when very 

 hungry, feed on a piece of raw liver or beef, sucking it white. A fledg- 

 ling English sparrow was consumed once, and on two occasions a small 



mouse. 



Specimens have usually been females and no attempt was made to 

 rear successive generations. The jars were kept at room temperature. 

 In very cold weather, and over week-ends when the room was likely to 

 be chilly, they were set on top of an incubator which furnished a slight 



degree of warmth. 



References 

 Family Pholcidae 



For feeding see p. 242. 

 Family Lycosidae 



For feeding of Lycosa carolinensis see p. 242. 



Family theridiidae 



CULTURE OF LATHRODECTUS MACTANS, THE BLACK 



WIDOW SPIDER 



Elizabeth Burger, The College of William and Mary 

 Caution: Extreme care should be taken in handling "black widow" 

 spiders since their poison is highly toxic and may prove fatal. 



Containers. Since these spiders are cannibalistic, they must be kept 

 in individual containers. Glass tumblers, covered with cheesecloth 

 secured by a rubber band, with one inch of sand at the bottom, are 



