﻿3/2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [VOL. 47 



colony. At times a female, while in the act of web-building, may 

 be carried away by the wind and thus plant a new colony. 



Before concluding this description let me rehearse the points 

 which lead me to designate this group of spiders as social. We note 

 the common nest for a number of spiders — males and females ; the 

 manner in which they build and repair their nests ; their feeding to- 

 gether, and the absence of ill-feeling amongst them — these are char- 

 acteristics not commonly met with among animals of the solitary 

 kind. Other points in their habits go to strengthen my conclusion. 

 The relation between the sexes is found to be one of affection, and 

 the maternal feeling for the offspring verges almost on self-sacrifice. 



While it must be conceded that these spiders have nothing of that 

 differentiation and organization found in the communities of ants 

 and bees, it still seems that the amicable existence led by them in 

 the common which has been built by united effort, the friendly shar- 

 ing of their meals, the more than toleration, the affection shown for 

 each other by the male and female, and the self-denial of the mother 

 on behalf of her young entitle this group of spiders to be called social. 



APPENDIX. 



The author, who has given such an interesting account of one 

 social spider seems unaware of records of various other species. 

 Probably all the species of Stegodyphus are social. The Rev. O. P. 

 Cambridge was the first to record this habit in this genus, when 

 describing S. gregalis from South Africa. A nest of this species 

 was kept for some time in the London Zoological Garden. Mr. 

 Marshall has written an account of this species which agrees very 

 closely with that of Mr. Jambunathan. He notes that several feed 

 upon the same insect, and that the old ones die in the early winter. 

 He also speaks of a mouse that nests in the midst of a communal 

 nest to feed on the insects, and of a Tineid moth that breeds in the 

 debris of dead insects. Simon has described several social spiders 

 from Venezuela, notable among them being Uloborus republicanus. 

 Mr. Schwarz has found this species in Cuba, and notes that the 

 males keep to one corner of the connected mass of webs. 

 Ref< rences to the social spiders are as follows: 



E. llolmberg — Analcs di Agricolutura, II, 1874, p. 156. 



C. Berg Bol. Acad. Cordova, 1, pp. 279-283, 1879. 



0. P. Cambridge— Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1889, pp. 42-44 

 T. Bolivar— Bol. Soc. Espagn., xxi, p. 22, 1892. 



E. Simon Ann. Soc. Ent. France, 1891. pp. 1-14. 4 pis. 



G. A. K. Marshall Zoologist (iv), vol. 11, pp. 417-422, 1898. 



1. Katharine r— Biol. Centrabl., xxi, pp. 72-74. iQoi. 



E. A. Schwarz— Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., vi, pp. 147-148, 1904. 



[N. Banks.] 



