101 



Mr. James H. Emerton, of Salem, spoke of the man- 

 ner in which the cocoons of spiders are made, and de- 

 scribed the methods followed by Ejpehxi strix and Attus 

 mystaceus. The first makes a ball of loose wrinkled silk, 

 lays its eggs in it and covers the whole thickly with strong 

 threads. The Attus makes first a large silken bag in 

 which it lives for some time. Finally it discharges the 

 eggs against the npper surface of the bag, where they 

 adhere and are immediately covered by fine silk. Mr. 

 Emerton showed a cocoon of Epeira caudata found on a 

 berry bush in the pine woods ; also several female Lycosa 

 carrying their cocoons fastened to their spinnerets. 



Dr. George A. Perkins, of Salem, described the sun- 

 dew (drosera), and spoke of several other plants of the 

 same habits. 



Mr. John Robinson, of Salem, followed with a* more 

 detailed account of these plants, including the pitcher 

 plant, with habits similar to those of the drosera. The 

 peculiarity of this class of plants which receiveck particular 

 attention were those trap-like appliances by which they 

 catch and hold insects which die, decay, and serve as a 

 fertilizer to nourish the plant. Mr. Robinson described a 

 number of plants that had been collected by Mrs. Horner 

 of Georgetown. 



Mr. John Robinson, in reply to a question which was 

 proposed on the subject of planting pine trees, explained 

 the structure of the pine cone, the p-osition of the seed 

 therein, time and manner of sowing, alluding briefly to 

 the diminution of our forests. On this latter subject a 

 discussion followed, Mrs. C. H. Dall and Mrs. Mary S. 

 Blake of Boston and the Rev. Messrs. Israel and BoUes 

 of Salem and others taking part. 



