196 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



the ))art of the hig spider. Might not a deliberate intention to feed her 

 j'oung be excUided from tlie act of this mother Dolomede on precisely 

 the same ground? 



Quite as extraordinary as the above is the beliavior of a little Jumping 

 spider, Attus nubillus, related by the same observer.' This s])ider de- 

 posited her cocoon, after tlie manner of her genus, within a couple of 

 curled leaves of prickly Smilax rotundifolia. Mrs. Treat oj)cned the 

 nest and found that the spiders were apparently just hatched, and were 

 of a pale green color. The mother was not then in sight, but knowing 

 that Attus remains with and cares for her young until they leave the 

 nest, the observer waited and was rewarded by witnessing the little motlier's 

 return. For a time she seemed to look with dismay upon her pretty home 

 torn asunder, and her sjtiderlings scattered around, liut soon proceeded to 

 gather the younglings together and tuck them back under the 

 ®'' „ silken canopy. One spiderling, which had wandered farther than 

 Young ^'^"^ ^"^^^ ^"^ ^'^^ verge of the leaf, was picked up bodily, as a cat 

 would carry its kitten, and put back into the flossy interior of 

 the cocoon. Then the mother set about repairing her damaged cocoon; 

 and after the rent was mended the young were not visible. She also 

 tried to bring the enclosing leaves together again, but presently abandoned 

 that effort. 



She remained on the outside of the nest, and no threatened danger 

 would induce her to leave. She sprang towards the observer's hand, and 

 fiercely grasped the point of a i^encil thrust near her. Several times 

 daily the nest was visited, and the mother w'as found persistently pres- 

 ent until the third day, when she was missed. A second time the cocoon 

 was opened, and the spiderlings found to have made the first moult, and 

 were crawling about slowly. When the mother came back and perceived 

 her young disturbed again, she varied her behavior so far as to look 

 around for the cause of tlie disaster — spying around leaves, and over and 

 under them. Finding nothing, she soon became quiet, put her brood 

 within the cocoon once more, and again repaired the damage. 

 tv^^N^'^t^ This completed, she went to work to bring tlie leaves together. 

 The tips now stood two inches aj^art, while at the base or stem 

 end the space was lialf an incli. The leaves were thick and leathery, and 

 the petioles stiff and firm. She fastened a thread of silk to one leaf and 

 then to the other, and went back and forth strengthening and shortening 

 the lines, and slowly bringing the leaves together. The next morning they 

 were found quite joined, and the interior entirely hidden. 



A third time, during the mother's absence, the leaves were separated 

 without disturbing the young witliin their cocoon. When the mother re- 

 turned she did not attempt to reconnect the leaves. In a day or two 



' "My (iarden Pets," pages (i4-68. 



