GENEJ;AI> COCnoNINC IIAIUTS dl' SI'IDICIW. 



I.'il 



bliick. T named the species Attus opifex, l)ut according to Professor I'eck- 

 luiiu it belongs to the genus I'hidippus. ' 



I present in this connection a fac simile drawing of perhaps the earliest 

 sketch of a Saltigrade cocooning nest. July 2Gth, 1745, Baron De Geer 

 found among the needle like leaves of a pine tree a large, oval cocoon 

 nest of white silk, which was woven around the branch and interlaced with 

 the leaves. (Fig. 186.) The spider was inside along with her little ones, 

 who were present in great number. In the middle of the cocoon nest, at 

 the side, was a door, at which the spider stayed on guard ; but generally 

 she was within the tent with her little ones, preferring the back or middle 

 part thereof, near the supporting branch. De Geer found at the entrance 

 detritus of flies and other insects which had been devoured by tlie mother, 

 such as the legs, wings, etc. 



The spiderlings accompanied the mother, and appeared to live on good 

 terms with her. They were about a line long, but otlierwise quite resem- 

 bled the mother, having black bodies and brown legs. They moved with 

 great vivacity and appeared to be nourished, in common with their mother, 

 by the prey captured by the mother. The species appears to be Dendry- 

 phantes hastatus Clerck.'^ 



VI. 



Among Laterigrades a very general habit is to sjiin a, piano convex 

 cocoon of tough silk fibre, which is attached to some surface. Sometimes 

 a light shelter tent is spun over this, and the 

 spider will be found dwelling within. (See Vol. I., 

 page 347, Fig. 338.) Thomisus cristatus Clerck, 

 of Europe (Xysticus audax Koch), secludes her- 

 self in the leaves and stretches some isolated 

 threads around her, and there sometimes she sus- 

 pends herself. In this retreat tlie female lays her 

 eggs in a flat cocoon, one-fourtli incli in diame- 

 ter, the tissue of which is swollen by the eggs, 

 and presents rounded eminences. The spider places 

 henself upon the cocoon and does not abandon it 

 when touched. The cocoon contains one hundred 

 eggs of yellowish white color. ^ 



The eggs of Philodromus are usually enclosed within a cell which is 

 hung among the leaves or stretched between twigs. (Fig. 187.) Tlie egg 

 sac is surrounded by a slight silken tent, wherein the mother dwells. An 

 example of Philodromus mollitor, in my collection,* is woven in the angles 



Fig. 187. Cocooning tents of 

 Philodromus mollitor. 



^ " North American Spiders of the Family Attidie, Phidippus opifex !McCook." Trans. 

 Wisconsin Acad. Sci., Vol. II., 1888, page 20. 



'^ De Geer, jjages 286, 287. ^ ^\'alckenaer, Ajiteres, Vol. I., page 523. 



■* This example was sent me by Dr. Geo. Marx as the cocoon of this species. 



