DEATH AND JTS DISGUISKS. 



425 



'Finis!' 



during this period, and the leaves were continually dropping from the 

 vine, no change at all of any decided character occurred in the position. 

 The lines maintained their strength and tension. The next day, 

 however, showed a change. "October 22d. This morning the 

 threads of Sexta's web have relaxed and broken, and the position is ([uite 



changed. The abdomen is shrunken up, a more hard, dry shell 



October 24th. P'earing that Sexta would be carried off by the high wind 

 and falling leaves, and wishing to preserve the body, I removed it from 

 its lines, and the shriveled corpse now rests in my collection at the Phil- 

 adelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. 



I have observed something of the same sort in spiders kept in oontine- 

 ment within my breeding boxes, where I had placed them for various 

 observations, particularly to secure cocoons. 

 I was sure to find them some morning lying 

 upon the bottom of the box, quite shriveled 



nil and dead. In the case of siiiders after r'. 



the act of cocooning, the process is ^-^ 

 After Co- , , i -i i 



very much as above described, so 



far at least as I can judge from 

 disjointed observations upon various species. 

 Of course, those spiders which make several 

 cocoons remained active until the last cocoon 

 has been spun ; but with those wlio make 

 but one the forces of life seem to be entirely 

 or largely expended in the act of maternity. 

 After a little while the creature hangs to the 

 maze of lines within which her cocoon is 

 usually suspended, or to some bit of web ad- 

 joining, and then simply drops off dead. As 

 she lies in this attitude the legs are usually 

 bent beneath the body and towards the mouth 

 pai'ts. Sometimes they will be found clus- 

 tered close together just beneath the mouth 

 or some part of the sternum. The abdomen 

 frequently shows gaunt and shriveled. In the case of the spiders above 

 described, who had not made cocoons, the abdomen immediately after 

 death was sufficiently plump, at least not shriveled. Some spiders, after 

 the act of cocooning, have enough energy remaining to spin a web and 

 even ca})ture prey, but with the Orbweavers which make only one cocoon, 

 this is the exception and not the rule. 



II. 



Until lately little has been known concerning the possibilities of pro- 

 longed life among the lower orders of animals. The waste of life is great 



Fig. 363. Sexta after death. 



