XIV COCOONS 359 
simple silken case closely investing the eggs, and by its thickness 
and the non-conducting quality of the material, sufficient pro- 
tection is afforded against inclement weather. 
The egg-bag of the large Garden-spider (4. diademata) may 
be recognised by its great size and its yellow colour, which is 
deepened by the still more yellow tint of the eggs within. 
Those of Zilla x-notata and of many other English Epeirids are 
of similar structure, but of white silk. The mother generally 
avails herself of some natural shelter, hiding her cocoon beneath 
loose bark, in the crannies of masonry, or under the copings of 
walls. 
Many species, on the contrary, boldly expose their cocoons in 
their snares, sometimes as many as fourteen being constructed 
in succession and strung in a chain. The American species 
Epeira caudata and E. bifurca are good ,examples of this habit, 
stringing a chain of characteristic cocoons upon the line connect- 
ing the retreat with the web. 
The sedentary Theridiid spiders usually suspend their cocoons 
in the neighbourhood of their irregular snares. The green cocoon 
of Theridion sisyphiwm is generally more or less concealed by an 
accumulation of débris. The minute species 7. pallens constructs 
a cocoon of peculiar shape on the under surface of a leaf (Fig. 
196, B). It is a conical structure of white silk, considerably 
larger than the spider itself, attached at its broad end,! and 
having several curious lateral projections near the middle. 
Among the Lycosidae or “ Wolf-spiders ” the prevailing habit 
of the mother is to carry the egg-bag attached beneath her 
abdomen upon all her hunting excursions. It is spheroidal in 
shape, made up of an upper and a lower half, with a seam-like 
junction at the equator, so to speak. The lower half is first 
woven, and the eggs are deposited within it. The upper hemi- 
sphere is then spun, and the edges gathered in and finished off, the 
seam or suture being always discernible. The bag is now attached 
by silken threads to the spinnerets, and bumps merrily over 
the ground as the animal hurries along in search of prey. If 
deprived of it she evinces the greatest distress, and frequently 
will not try to escape without it. 
Attempts to utilise Spider Silk.—lIt is long since the web 
1 The figure of this cocoon has been accidentally inverted in the works of both 
Blackwall and Pickard-Cambridge. 
