SOCIAL HABITS OF SPIDERS. 



39 



Social 



Theridi 



oids. 



tries of the social Hymenoptera, and the use of the word " social " in 

 this restricted sense is deceptive. 



XI. 



The element of sociability appears to be much more highly developed 

 with a Lineweaver which Mr. Simon describes as Anelosimus socialis, a 

 species belong- 

 ing to the fam- 

 ily Theridiidse. 

 Many hundreds, 

 perhaps thousands of this 

 species spin a common 

 web, soft and transparent, 

 but of a compact tissue 

 analogous to that woven 

 by Agalena. This snare 

 is of indeterminate form, 

 and sometimes attains im- 

 mense dimensions, even 

 enveloping an entire coffee 

 tree. At first sight it ap- 

 pears more like the spin- 

 ningwork of sociable cat- 

 erpillars than of spiders. 

 When one opens the ex- 

 terior envelope he sees 

 that the interior is divided 

 by silken partitions into 

 irregular lodges ; within 

 these the spiders freely 

 move about, and upon 

 meeting touch one another, 

 as do ants, with their an- 

 tennae, and sometimes a 

 number of them will be 

 seen feeding ujion the 

 same prey. The cocoons 



are rounded, formed of flocculent wadding of an iron gray color, are with- 

 out pedicles, and are fixed to the common web by threads which form a 



soft net. 



Upon this statement and the figure of M. Simon, which I reproduce in 

 Fig. 35, I remark that the phenomenon is explicable by the ordinary habits 

 of young spiders. This I have fully illustrated in Section V., Chapter 

 VIII. Vol. II. Such an assemblage as there shown (Fig. 251) differs 





'<, 



^: 



Fig. 35. 



Fig. 36. 



Fig. 35. Common leafy tent of Anelosimus socialis. 

 Fig. 36. Cocoons of same. (After Simon.) 



