1903.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 95 



with his chelicera, then remained quiet until 11.10 when I ceased the 

 observations. The spirit is always willing to watch longer, but con- 

 tinuous observation with a hand lens, and the necessity of keeping 

 quiet in a cramped position for fear of startling the object, becomes 

 trying to the flesh. 



A curious act which I observed d^ No. 23 to do I cannot explain, 

 but it may possibly have some connection with the mating. On May 

 3 he was upon the web of 9 No. 22. At 9.50 P.M., after his copu- 

 lation with her (described above), he commenced to tear a hole in 

 the horizontal portion of her web, tearing with his palpi and putting 

 the torn shreds in his jaws. He thus made an oblong rectangular 

 hole of about the length of his body, and as he continued to tear the 

 portion just in front of him, he swung his spinnerets over the posterior 

 part of the hole, and so spun it over with very fine transverse lines. 

 This act lasted until 10.04, and only about one-quarter of the hole in 

 the web had been mended over. Though I watched him closely up 

 to 12.27 A.M., he did not return to this hole. 



Cocooning. — This was observed several times, and was as follows : 

 9 No. 79 was observed at 8.00 A.M., June 19, spinning over a cir- 

 cular area (of greater diameter than her own length) on the vertical 

 glass wall just above the edge of the web. She ceased until 8.09, 

 owing to a jar to the cage, then commenced again. Very regularly 

 and actively, without interruption, she spun up to 8.23, placing her 

 feet at the periphery of the silken disk ("base" of the cocoon), and 

 revolving her body over it, turning sometimes from right to left and 

 sometimes in the reverse direction, all the while beating the tips of 

 her palpi upon the disk. During the earlier part of the process the 

 outstretched spinnerets were brushed from side to side ; but in the latter 

 part she lifted the abdomen high after each application, thus pulling 

 out long threads which she fastened close to their first point of attach- 

 ment, so that the inmost (most lately made) part of the disk was made 

 of curled loops, and so was of very soft consistency. Thus the base 

 of the cocoon, somewhat thickest in the centre, was formed. At 

 8.23 she stood quietly over this base, then oviposited upon it, the ovi- 

 position lasting a little more than one minute. From her genital 

 aperture exuded a large clear drop of viscid fluid and fell upon the 

 centre of the base, its upper surface still connected with her genital 

 aperture, and at the same time the yellowish ova fell into and were 

 enveloped by this drop. Then she immediately begaif spinning the 

 cover of the cocoon over the egg mass. From 8.24| to 8.35 she spun 

 a loose covering of silken loops by elevating the spinnerets after each 



