The Climbing- Instinct 147 



Cross Spider, needs a cranny for hers, which is 

 contained in a non- waterproof felt. In a heap 

 of stones, well exposed to the sun, she will 

 choose a large slab to serve as a roof. She 

 lodges her pill underneath it, in the company 

 of the hibernating Snail. 



More often still, she prefers the thick tangle 

 of some dwarf shrub, standing eight or nine 

 inches high and retaining its leaves in winter. 

 In the absence of anything better, a tuft of 

 grass answers the purpose. Whatever the 

 hiding-place, the bag of eggs is always near the 

 ground, tucked away as well as may be amid 

 the surrounding twigs. 



Save in the case of the roof supplied by a 

 large stone, we see that the site selected hardly 

 satisfies proper hygienic needs. The Epeira 

 seems to realize this fact. By way of an addi- 

 tional protection, even under a stone, she never 

 fails to make a thatched roof for her eggs. She 

 builds them a covering with bits of fine, dry 

 grass, joined together with a little silk. The 

 abode of the eggs becomes a straw wigwam. 



Good luck procures me two Cross Spiders' 

 nests on the edge of one of the paths in the 



