and Cocoon-weaving o/"Agelena labjrintiiica. 115 



of an hour's labour it rested for an equal space, apparently 

 exhausted by its prolonged efforts. An hour and three 

 quarters intermittent work served to complete the sheet, the 

 spider varying the monotony of its sinuous walk round this 

 small area by occasionally walking over it and strengthening 

 the lines which attached its angles to the roof. 



A marked change now became observable in its manner of 

 working. The animal abandoned its incessant to-and-fro 

 walk, but began to jerk its body up towards the sheet, 

 throwing silk strongly against it. At the same time the 

 anterior spinnerets were actively rubbed together, and the long 

 posterior spinnerets divaricated and brought together again 

 with a scissor-like motion. The result of this performance, 

 which lasted half an hour, was to invest the under surface of 

 the small sheet with a coating of flossy silk quite unlike the 

 ordinary web in texture. Its purpose soon became evident. 

 Shortly after 2 A.M. the spider began to deposit its eggs 

 upwards against this loose-textured silk, aiding the egg-mass 

 to adhere by occasional upward jerks of the body. 



The operation occupied between five and ten minutes, 

 during which time the individual eggs were indistinguishable, 

 but the white semi-fluid egg-mass appeared gradually to 

 grow between the spider and the small sheet. 



'J'he oviposition accomplished, the under surface of the egg- 

 mass was covered by a layer of flossy silk similar to that 

 against which it was laid, the eggs being thus entirely enve- 

 loped in a coating of soft loose-textured material. 



This was effected in three quarters of an hour, after which 

 the spider resumed its customary manner of spinning, and 

 covered in the under surface of the egg-mass with ordinary 

 sheet- web. 



The small sheet now presented with the egg-mass the 

 appearance of a plano-convex lens, with the convex surface 

 downwards. 



About 3 o'clock the final part of the complicated structure 

 was commenced. Carrying down perpendicular lines from 

 the angles of the small sheet to the underlying floor of the 

 hammock, the spider began to construct a closed box or case, 

 with the egg-bearing sheet for its roof. 



It was long before tliis became distinctly visible as a 

 beautiful, filmy, transparent structure, within whicli the eggs 

 were clearly to be seen, depending from its upper wall (PI. X. 

 fig. 6). By 9 o'clock the next morning it was of moderate 

 strength and opacity, but labour was intermittently bestowed 

 upon it for two or three days before it was entirely finished 

 to the satisfaction of the spider. 



8* 



