MATERNAL INSTINCTS : MOTHERHOOD. 195 



cell, she falls to the earth without drawing a line with which to suspend 

 herself, feigns death for some time, and then, making a rapid flight, sets 

 to work to build a new house in a fresh place.' 



YII. 



Mrs. Mary Treat, in a little work designed for j)opular use entirely, 

 gives several extraordinary examples of maternal care on the part of 

 spiders. One of these was a female of Dolomedes scriptus, which 

 Special ^^^^ attracted attention by the fact that she was carrying a bag 

 „ , , of eggs about the size of a small cherry, with which she planted 

 Care herself on top of a leaf nest of a Shamrock spider (Epeira tri- 



folium). One morning Dolomede was missed from her accus- 

 tomed place, but upon searching some adjoining ferns the characteristic 

 cocoon tent of the species was discovered. It was three or four inches 

 in length and from two to three in breadth, composed of ferns bent over 

 and fastened together. Through one of the oi)enings between the leaves 

 the cocoon was seen suspended from the ceiling, precisely as I have myself 

 observed it, and as is represented in the sketch Fig. 177, Chapter V. 



In two or three days thereafter the young Dolomedes were hatched 

 and swarming all over the outside of the cocoon. AVhen the leafy domi- 

 cile which enclosed them was touched the little ones ran down the lines 

 in the direction of Mrs. Treat's finger, as if they expected something, and 

 reminded the observer of young birds, which always open their mouths 

 to be fed whenever they are approached by a human being, not having 

 yet learned to recogiiize their parents. 



This behavior led Mrs. Treat to suspect that the youngling spiders were 

 fed by their mother, and she accordingly kept watch u])on the colony. 

 One evening, not long afterwards, the mother Dolomede was seen 

 . ®® ' with a large fly in her mandibles taking long strides in the 

 Young- direction of her domicile. She was soon inside, and the little 

 ones thronged around her and sucked the juices of the fly while 

 she held it. The fly had j^reviously been crushed in the mother's jaws as 

 though to make the food available for her nestlings. How long this 

 process continued is not stated. It is a great pity that the details were not 

 given, and the lack of these details leaves in my mind the question, was 

 this really a case of feeding the young? Or did the Dolomede simph' 

 return to her nest to prey upon the food which she had gathered for 

 herself, and permit, without interference, her brood to share in the repast? 

 I have seen a mature Argiope (see Vol. I., page 256) feeding upon a blue 

 bottle fly, while a number of small Diptera were sharing in the feast, 

 having crowded up to the very jaws of the spider to sip the juices of the 

 carcass. Of course, no purpose to feed the little flies could be inferred on 



• Staveley, page 100. 



