THE GENESIS OF SNARES. 



347 



of Mater 

 nity. 



and Tubeweavers. The same is true of the Saltigrades, who persistently 

 live in tubes ; of the Laterigrades, who occasionaly form them ; and of the 

 Citigrades and Tunnelweavers, who make silk lined 

 tubular burrows in the ground. 



Among the causes that would lead directly from a 

 simple lineweaving to a tubeweaving habit are the ma- 

 ternal function and instinct. The mother seeks retire- 

 ment when the time of ovipositing draws near. 

 -^^^^"°^ Beneath some ledge, or leaf, or stone, or twig, 

 or other convenient shelter, she takes refuge, 

 and there remains until the last act of ma- 

 ternal care. The very continuance in one place would 

 naturally lead to the formation of a rudimentary nest 

 in the manner just explained. The mother's prompt- 

 ings to protect her progeny by overspinning the eggs 



would lead almost inevitably, in many cases, to her- j,^^ 33^ ^he coeooning nest 

 self sharing the provided shelter, or extending or of a Laterigrade spider, 



T , . • , r> 1 1 n , Philodromus. 



adaptmg it tor her own bcncnt. 



How natural is such a step appears from the fact that such spiders as 

 the Laterigrades, that never (or but rarely) use any sort of snare or shelter, 

 resort to a tubular cell for the protection of their eggs 

 and young, and dwell within it themselves during the 

 hatching season. (Fig. 338.) So, also, Ly- 

 Lateri- cosids, which habitually wander in the open 

 grades j^^ pursuit of prey, when the time for co- 

 Lycosids. nooning comes make a burrow or nest in 

 the ground or beneath a rock, which they 

 silk line and use as a domicile. Thus, also, Dolo- 

 medes, which is persistently nestless and webless in 

 ordinary habits, is drawn by maternal instincts to spin 

 among the leaves, or in like situation, one of the 

 most complete nests that can be found in the whole 

 range of aranead spinningwork. 



Having thus pursued the line of analogy from 

 the Lineweaving to the Tubeweaving species, we may 

 return upon our course for a moment to 

 Analogy trace the analogies between the Lineweaving 

 Between ^^^^ Orbweaving species. Already, in a pre- 

 ceding chapter (Chapter VIIL), I have fully 



Line- 



and Orb- iH^^strated the peculiar habit of certain Orb- 

 weavers, weavers to combine with their typical or- 

 bicular snare the typical retitelarian snare 

 of the Lineweavers. Conspicuous examples of this are Epeira labyrin- 

 thea, Epeira triaranea, and most of the species belonging to the genus 



Fig. 339. The cocooning nest 

 of Dolomedes sexpunctatus. 



