MATERNAL INDUSTRY: COCOONS OF ORBWEAVERS. 



91 



Cocoon of Epeira thaddeus, swung upon a line. 



tough silken tent, and this appeared to belong to the spider, who, moreover, 

 looked as though she might soon make another cocoon. The question was 

 started, but was not solved, does Triaranea weave more than one cocoon? 

 The cocoon was a little flossy 

 bull, flattened, of course, on 

 the side attached to the rock. 

 I captured one of the fe- 

 males, which cocooned in a 

 box, thus showing that the 

 cocoons above described were 

 those of this species. 



A cocoon of Epeira thad- 

 deus was sent to me from 

 Vineland, by Mrs. Mary 

 Treat. It had been spun upon some potted ferns within her lodgings. It 

 is a subglobose sac, of a delicate i^earl gray color, one-fourth 



peu-a [yiq]^ (six millimetres) in diameter. It is attached at the toi) to 

 thaddeus. . „.,,.,, ,i -j • i ^ , ,i , • , 



a strip of silk ribbon, or ratlier it widens out at the top into 



two triangular points, by which it is fastened upon a cord stretched between 

 two sprigs of fern. The egg ball thus swings free. (Fig. 68.) 



I have secured cocoons of this species, by confinement within the trying 

 box, which differ from the above. They are globular or subglobular masses 

 of flossy j^ellow silk, about three-eighths of an inch in diameter. I believe 

 that, ordinarily, Thaddeus will be found to weave a cocoon of this sort upon 

 a leaf or other surface, probably enclosing it within a curled leaf, or over- 

 spinning it in the manner of Epeira triaranea. 



I have not been fortunate enough to identify the cocoons of our common 

 Zillas; but a species which I observed in Florida made a cocoon shown 



at Fig. 69, top of the cut. It was a flossy 

 ball, about three-eighths of an inch thick, 

 and was woven within the silken tent 

 which formed the spider's domicile. It 

 was placed in the toj) of the tent, and 

 against the twigs, which formed a sort 

 / of framework for it. After the cocoon 

 had been made the spider shifted her 

 \ domicile to a lower point, and gradually 

 spun a new dome shajaed tent just be- 

 neath her cocoon, within which she con- 

 tinued to dwell. 



The cocoon of Nephila wilderi, accord- 

 ing to Professor Burt Wilder, ^ is a large flossy hemisphere of silk, which is 

 usually spun upwards against a leaf or similar surface. The spinningwork 



Fig. 69. Cocoon (top of figure I aud tent 

 of a Florida Zilla. 



' Trans. Am. Assoc. Advauc. Sci., 1873, page 2Go. 



