-91 — 



place. This is done several times: 9,15 began making trap-door," etc. 

 No. 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 re- 

 peated 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 irresist- 

 able power. Then suddenly leaving the spot it would wander and en- 

 deavor to climb the side of the glass; when it would as suddenly be 

 seized with an irresistable inclination to tear away at the earth without 

 any seeming purpose. Occasionally it seemed to work with more de- 

 liberation as if it were gradually becoming conscious of a latent instinct- 

 ive 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 

 follow carefully the notes I have taken on all, but I fear it would make 

 the article too long, so I will conclude this subject 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 remov- 

 ed 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 na- 

 ture of the soil as in the case of variations noticed among adult spiders, 

 when the soil at times was of a different 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 btfore beginning 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. Witii 

 close watching and due allowance for conditions just mentioned there 

 seems to be great variableness in the attitude which different young indi- 

 viduals at first show in the construction of their nest. In some cases the 

 consciousness, if 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. Moggridge also asks at which end of the tube the spider begins 

 to spin the silken linings.'' This species, so far as I have observed, (I 

 have watched over thirty individuals, ) always begins at the upper end. 

 1 had several opportunities of witnessing this among the young ones, and 

 one mature one, when the spinning of the lining was done very beauti- 

 fully. In fig. 14 a spider is represented in the act of spinning the silken 



