ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 31 



26 was placed in bottle at 9 p. m., Mar. 19th. At i p. m., 

 Mar. 20th, it began digging and soon abandoned this place 

 for another. This it repeated as many as a dozen times, 

 sometimes returning to the work and tearing away at the 

 soil as if in a frenzy, and impelled by some irresistible 

 power. Then suddenly leaving the spot it would wander 

 and endeavor to climb the side of the glass ; when it would 

 as suddenly be seized with an irresistible inclination to tear 

 away at the earth without any seeming purpose. Occasion- 

 ally it seemed to work with more deliberation, as if it were 

 gradually becoming conscious of a latent instinctive power! 

 At 4 p. m. it continued work in one place until the nest was 

 completed, but the door, which is represented in fig. 13, was 

 barely hung together and was loosely hinged by three 

 strands. A few days later I tore down this nest, when the 

 spider went to work in the normal way and built a perfect 

 nest. Upon this point alone it would be interesting to fol- 

 low carefully the notes I have taken on all, but I fear it 

 would make the article too long, so I will conclude this sub- 

 ject with reference to a few others. One without digging in 

 the normal way pressed the dirt aside ; buried itself, and 

 then spun a bag of silk surrounding it. When removed 

 from this it went to work in the normal way. Several 

 others acted very much like this one, and No. 26. 



These variations could not be attributed to a difference in 

 the nature of the soil as in the case of variations noticed 

 among adult spiders, when the soil at times was of a differ- 

 ent character. Care was taken that the soil should be of the 

 same compactness and moisture for each. In some cases a 

 hard lump caused the spider to remove to another place, and 

 in one or two instances the spiders waited so long before be- 

 ginning work that the soil was too dry ; pouring in water 

 packed the earth too hard and it was necessary to loosen it 

 before the spider could take up a pellet. With close watch- 

 ing and due allowance for conditions just mentioned there 

 seems to be great variableness in the attitude which different 

 young individuals at first show in the construction of their 

 nest. In some cases the consciousness, if fit might so be called, 

 of instinctive power flashes upon them when they first are 

 made to shift for themselves ; while with others there seems 

 to be a greater or less development or dawning of the same 

 consciousness. 



Mr. Moggfidge also asks at which end of the tube the 

 spider begins to spin the silken lining ? This pecies, so far 



