GENERAL COCOONING HABITS OF SPIDERS. 



113 



bees upon the adjoining lines, and soon thereafter distribute themselves, as 

 is the custom with Theridioids generally, to surrounding points, where 

 they construct webs like the mother's. 



Another Tlieridioid spider, whose sjiecific name is unknown to me, spins 

 a similar snare in like localities, and deposits therein several eggs, almost 

 resembling those of Serpcntinum, except tliat they are of a yellowish brown 

 color and more spherical in shape. They have a pretty appearance as they 

 hang amidst the crossed lines in the dusty and dusky sites wliich the 

 mother frequents. 



Among Lineweavers making several cocoons is Argyrodes trigoni;m. 



The species belongs to a genus quite famous for- its habit of invading the 



snares of other 



species, particular- 



Argy- 

 rodes tri 



gonum. 



Fig. 109. Argyrodes trigonum in her snare, with three 

 cocoons. (Natural size.) 



ly those belonging 



to its own tribe of 

 Retitelarise, and those Orb- 

 weavers that make com- 

 pound snares and thus af- 

 ford a suitable dwelling place 

 in the labyrinth or maze of 

 crossed lines. I have ob- 

 served this habit in Trigo- 

 num, but have more fre- 

 quently found it in its own 

 snare. It is an awkwardly 

 shaped creature, and its odd 

 appearance is increased by 

 its habit of bunching its 

 legs together, and hanging 

 upon a few crossed lines in its snare, as represented at Fig. 109. In this 

 position it looks not unlike a trussed fowl in a green grocer's .stall. 



Her cocoon is a pretty pyriform hanging basket, about one-fourth inch 

 in length and one-eighth in thickness, composed of stiff yellowish brown 

 silk. The upper part is a cone, rounded or tajjering well to a point, at 

 which is attached a stiff white cord, by which it is fastened into its place 

 among the crossed lines of the snare. The lower part of the basket termi- 

 nates in a sliort projection from the middle. (Fig. 110.) The mother 

 makes several cocoons ; I have found as many as three (Fig. 109) hanging 

 witliin a snare at one time, all of which were doubtless made by the little 

 mother. The cocoons are suspended by long, stout cords. When this 

 hanging basket cocoon is opened the eggs are seen loosel)' deposited in the 

 midst of a little puif of flossy silk. I sometimes find at the bottom of the 

 cocoon a little hole, through which evidently the young have escaped after 

 hatching. 



