1883.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 2T'7 



the famil}' Oxyopoida? of the Citigrade spiders, to which it is 

 doubtless properly relegated in spite of certain analogies with 

 the AttoidjB (Saltigrades) on the one hand, and the Philodrominffi 

 (Laterigrades) on "the other, Mr. Wright calls them "jumping 

 spiders." Hentz, who describes several species of Oxyopes, says 

 that 0. salticus leaps with more force and vivacity than .an 

 Attus.'^ Of 0. viridans he thinks it possible that the mother 

 carries its young like Lycosa. This family of spiders is arboreal 

 in habit, is found on plants, with their legs extended, thus dis- 

 guising themselves after the manner known as " mimicry," and 

 springing upon their prey. The cocoon is usually conical, sur- 

 rounded with points, placed in a tent made between leaves drawn 

 together and lashed, and is sometimes of a pale greenish color. 

 0^ viridon>^ will make a cocoon suspended mid-air hy threads 

 attached to the external prominences, which she will watch 

 constantly from a neighboring site. Dr. McCook believed the 

 species presented to be new ; the bodj'-length is fourteen milli- 

 metres ; legs long, tapering, many long spines. The body is 

 3^ellow and pale yellow; the cephalothorax striped longitudinally 

 with bright red streaks; the abdomen marked above with red 

 bell-shaped and angular patterns, and beneath by red streaks ; 

 the sternum red, the legs yellow with red rings at the joints. The 

 species was named Fucetia aurora, because of the bright red 

 streaks upon the 3'ellow background, suggesting " the daughter 

 of the dawn." 



According to some field-notes forwarded by Mr. Wright since 

 the above was in print, Pucetia aurora is rather abundant in a 

 limited locality. The nests are uniformly upon bushes of Erio- 

 gonum coryvibosum, and several specimens of them were sent. 

 The nest is hung from three to four feet from the ground, and, 

 being upon the topmost twigs, is easily seen from a distance. 

 The cocoon is a straw-colored sphere or ovoid, five-eighths of an 

 inch in diameter. It is covered externall}' with various pointed 

 rugosities, from which numerous lines extend to the adjoining 

 foliage, and into the maze of right lines which extends below the 

 corjmib of the plant upon which all the specimens sent are 

 attached.' This retitelarian snare doubtless serves as a tem- 

 porary home for the young spiders. The cocoon has no suture, 

 the spiderlings escaping by cutting the case, which is thick and 

 closely woven. No tloss padding was found inside of the case. 



Upon approaching the nest, the mother is usually seen 

 hovering over the young spiders, or guarding a new sack of 

 eggs. She lays two, and sometimes three broods on one twig. 

 Sometimes the young ones will be still in the old nest, while the 

 mother is guarding a new bundle of eggs immediately adjoining 

 the old one. In no case were an}' 3'oung ones seen on the 

 mother's back. The mother stays close by her nest. If the 



1 "Spiders of the United States," p. 48. 



