No. 2.] MENTAL POWERS OF SPIDERS. 397 



the slightest heed to the sound. This may, perhaps, be par- 

 tially explained by the difference in the feeding habits of the 

 tvvo groups. 



MATERNAL EMOTIONS. 



The only tender feeling that can be attributed to spiders is 

 the affection for her offspring manifested by the female ; ex- 

 cept, perhaps, in the case of a few species where the male and 

 female live together in the same web, in conjugal happiness. 



Our observations on this subject necessarily included other 

 mental states beside the emotions, and for the sake of conven- 

 ience we shall consider, under this head, the various sensations, 

 perceptions, and manifestations of memory met with in this set 

 of experiments. 



We endeavored to estimate the strength of the maternal feel- 

 ing in our spiders by removing their cocoons and then noting 

 with what degree of eagerness they sought to regain them ; 

 and also by determining for how long a time they would re- 

 member the cocoons if they were separated from them. 



We selected for study the Lycosidae, spiders that keep the 

 egg-sack attached to the spinnerets, and carry the young about 

 on their backs for a certain length of time after they leave the 

 cocoon. We thought that the lengthening of the period of 

 infancy, during which the female cares for her young, might — 

 as in the case of monkeys and man — produce a greater de- 

 velopment of the maternal instinct than in other species of 

 spiders where the eggs receive little or no attention from the 

 parent after she has deposited them. 



On July 15, 1886, we found a i^^m^Q. Pirata piraticus Clk. 

 carrying her cocoon. While we were taking the egg-sack away 

 from her she seized it with her falces several times and tried to 

 escape. After we had finally accomplished its removal she 

 seemed very much affected by its loss, and searched about in 

 all directions to find it. In an hour and a half we returned it 

 to her, when she immediately took it between her falces, and 

 after a slight delay passed it back to the under side of her 

 abdomen, where she fastened it. It was again removed and 

 not returned to the spider for three hours. She did not seem 

 so ready to receive it as in the first instance, but after a httle 

 hesitation took it up and carried it off. 



