DRINKING HABITS AND WATER LIFE. 



21 



Purse- 



■web 



Spider, 



The Pursewcb spider, according to Mr. W. L. Poteat,^ is scrupulously 

 neat. Tlic droppings of his captive spiders were deposited outside the 

 nesting tube, and generally at sucli a distance as necessitated 

 her leaving the nest. These deposits were observed only in the 

 morning, so that she quits her tube at night, at least for this 

 purpose.'^ One usually finds a cluster of insect remains loosely 

 adhering to the outer wall of the tube, a little below its upper extremity. 

 These do not seem to be purposely attached to the tube, but to be acci- 

 dentally entangled when being thrown out, as with excavated earth, for 

 they are often seen on the ground at the foot of the tube. The leavings 

 of a single feast are frequentlj^ seen bound together with silk. On one 

 tube was recognized the remains of some Neuropterous insect and of two 

 woolly-bear caterpillars, such as hair, bits of chitinous integument, mandi- 

 bles, joints of legs, etc. Tlie elytra of beetles are also common. 



Fig. 7. A tarantula drinking w;itfr Iruni a saucer. 



in. 



Spiders require water, as do most animals, for their health, comfort, and 

 growth. They can, indeed, live long periods deprived of water, but unless 



supplied with an equivalent in the animal juices of their prey 

 ^'^"^^^'^^ they perish from thirst. Even when insect food is abundant they 



enjoy fresh water, and habitually partake of it in nature. The 

 dews which gather upon their webs during the hot months probably afford 

 a common supply. In the morning after a heavy dew, or after a rain 

 shower, spiders may be seen brushing away the moisture accumulated upon 

 the hairs which clothe their bodies. This is done by passing the fore legs 

 forward over tlie head and cephalothorax, and the hind legs over the abdo- 

 men backward. The legs, which gather the moisture upon their armature 

 of liairs and spines, are then doubled under the body and drawn between 

 the two mandibles, or between the mandibles and lip, thus brushing off the 

 water, a part of which, however, remains and is taken into the mouth. 



' A Tube Building Spider, page 16. 



^ Ibid., page 15. 



