162 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



At occasional intervals the spinnerets were laid against the cocoon 

 and held there a brief space, while the spider pushed them into tlie 

 mass, attaching her thread precisely after the manner described as cus- 

 tomary when she is making a dragline anchorage. (See Vol. I, page 61.) 



This, of cour.se, held to its position and 

 prevented the raveling of the tliread al- 

 ready accumulated. I was somewhat sur- 

 prised that more use was not made of the 

 spinnerets, as I had conceived the idea that 

 they were continually employed to beat 

 down and ])ack the cocooning material, 

 after the fashion of the long spinnerets of Agalena nasvia and most of 

 the Tunnelweavers. On the contrary, the spinnerets rarely touched the 

 cocoon, at this stage of the work at least, and the entire process of packing 

 was accomplished by the pressure of the leg alone. 



It seemed to me also that the palpi had something to do in packing 

 the flossy loops as they gathered upon the mass. At all events, they were 



Fig. 196. The hind leg of Argiope stretched 

 out and drawing the ray of threads. 



Packing. 



always held doubled under, as represented in some of the fig- 



ures, and were moved continually in a way that gave me the 

 idea that the spider appeared to be kneading the silk with them. Per- 

 haps the reason of this was to prevent the palpal claw from fastening in 

 the threads, for care was also taken to bend the claws of the feet well 

 under, as though to guard them from that annoyance. 



In this manner the spider proceeded, working her silken mass down- 

 ward, and gradually bringing it to a tolerably regular, oval shape. This 



was done entirely by so regulating the discharge of the silk and 

 Equaliz- ^j^^ application of it to the cocoon that the surface was kept 

 „ , . even and regular. I cannot positively say upon what principle 



this was accomplished, but I was made 

 aware of the fact that the aranead continually 

 changed her course as she moved around the co- 

 coon, describing a complicated series of convolu- 

 tions. This was shown strikingly in the following 

 way : In order to make exact drawings of the va- 

 rious attitudes of the spider while spinning, I drew 

 a number of outlines of the cocoon at various stages 

 upon blank paper, and waited to insert the various 

 parts, as the legs, palp.s, spinnerets, etc., in proj>er 

 seciuence as the spider would from time to time re- F'o-mt. Manner of forming and 



, . -K r • ^ 1 laving on the loops. 



appear at the same pomt. My ulea was that on 



one round I would sketch one leg, on another the next leg, and so on, 

 supposing that Trima would ajipear substantially at or near the same 

 place a number of times during her numerous rounds, and thus I would 

 have many opi^ortunities to catch her in the same attitude. 



