374 ANIMAL LIFE-HISTORIES 



are not adherent to each other in the cocoon, which is con- 

 structed in a remarkable manner. The two halves of the silken 

 case are strong and compact in texture, and at their suture is a 

 band of much slighter substance. This gives way sufficiently 

 to allow of the growth of the young after their escape from the 

 egg and before they are disengaged each from its membranous 

 envelope, and, in due time, it is at this weakest part that the 

 young escape. Amongst snare-making spiders, the young com- 

 mence weaving immediately after leaving the egg; but the young 

 Lycosce, requiring no snares, and being incapable of protecting 

 themselves, remain for about a fortnight with the mother, giving 

 rise formerly to a belief that they derived their nourishment 



from her body." 



The webs which snare - making 

 Spiders construct are, as it were, an 

 extension of a kind of tubular dwelling 

 placed in their immediate neighbour- 

 . 8 93 . -Nest of House-spider (Ttgen- hood. This may be seen in the cobwebs 



aria domestica}. a, Part of web; b, nest j i i 7-7- c* , j i f 



with front-door to right and back-door to made by UlC H OUS6-^plderS (SpCClCS of 



Iteady sand ' sra[m which keep *" M Tegenctria, fig. 893), where this home is 



placed in a sheltered corner, and has 



both a front-door opening on the web, and also a back-door which 

 serves as a kind of emergency exit. The dense white horizontal 

 webs of the Hedge-Spiders (species of Agalena] are associated 

 with a similar provision. At the back a vertical tube hangs 

 down, through which the spider retreats when alarmed. Con- 

 nected with this tube are one or more dwelling-chambers, and 

 in these the egg-bags, one or two in number, are deposited during 

 August. 



The domestic arrangements of one pretty little native species 

 (Tkeridium nervosum) are described by Staveley (in BritishSpiders) 

 as follows: "This beautiful little spider, and her as beautiful snare 

 and nest, are to be easily found in almost any kind of bush or 

 shrub in June or July. The snare is ... a very light mass of 

 threads crossing each other in every direction, and altogether 

 forming a pyramidal figure, or rather that of a long cottage roof. 

 The nest is a perfect little tent, which is sometimes suspended 

 by itself in the middle of the snare, and sometimes is sheltered 

 under a growing leaf, which has been fastened by silken cords 

 into a dome-like form to serve as roof. The tent is lined with 



