240 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



- I'll 



Fig. 261. Lycosid mother, with her newly 

 hatched brood upon her back. 



June following the little spiderlings issued forth. Their excursion was not 

 simply for observation. They mounted in search of air. Many made little 



cells of their own upon a water plant 

 which they found in the vase ; never- 

 theless, the}' still continued to go into 

 and out of the maternal mansion. Some 

 of them throM' themselves upon the 

 corpse of a dragon fly larva, each one 

 tugging at his own side in such a way 

 that they tore the body as ferociou.sly as 

 two dogs engaged in dragging at a piece 

 of flesh. 



On the fifteenth day they changed 

 their skin, and our observer saw a large 

 number of their moults floating upon the surface of the water. After 

 the young spiders had left the maternal cell it appeared transparent; but 

 two days after the advent of the family a part apjieared to be renewed, 

 satiny, and opaque. When the balloon was deserted, the male, who had 

 constructed a beautiful cell u]ion the surface of the water, sometimes came 

 to visit the old apartment. These spiders have a local attachment for the 

 neighl)orliood of their cells. 



XII. 



The Lycosid mother referred to (page 143) presented a good oppor- 

 tunity to observe the habits of her younglings. One month after her co- 

 coon had been made, June 4th, the 

 spider was found with the young 

 hatched and massed upon her body, 

 from ca2:)ut to abdomen. The empty 

 egg sac still clung to her spinnerets, 

 and tlie younglings were grouped upon the 

 upper part of the same. The abdomens of the 

 little spiders were of a light yellow color, the 

 legs of a greenish l)ro\vn or slate color, and the 

 brood were tightly packed upon and around 

 each other, the lower layers apparently holding 

 on to the mother's body and the upper upon 

 those beneath it. Twenty-four hours thereafter 

 the cocoon was dropped, and the spiderlings niniin 



clung to the mother alone. An examination of fk.. 262. The site of a brood of doIo- 

 the cocoon showed that the young had escaped ™f ^iie^s''"'"'" ' """^ '"""'"^ ^""^ 

 from the thin seam or joint formed by the 



union of the egg cover and the circular cushion when the whole was 

 pulled up at the circumference into globular shape. 



Spider- 

 lings 

 Pick-a- 

 back. 



