140 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNING WORK. 



Burrow 

 and Co- 

 coon of 

 Psalis- 

 tops. 



than large, and are suspended obliquely, like a hammock, between the op- 

 posite walls, as shown in the outline sketch, Fig. 171. 



Among the Venezuelan Avicularida? Simon discovered and describes an 

 interesting species, which he names Psalistops melanophygia. It is a com- 

 mon species in the neighborhood of Caracas, particularly in the 

 forest of Catuche. It digs a burrow in the ground six or seven 

 inches in depth, garnished toward the top with a silken lining 

 slightly adherent. The burrow is quite straight in the upper 

 part, from which proceeds a simple branch, straight and quite 

 long, cutting the main entrance at an acute angle, and mount- 

 ing near to the surface of the earth. (See Fig. 172.) Below the point at 



which this side branch enters, the main 

 burrow is much enlarged and more or less 

 curved towards the bottom. From this 

 point also it is destitute of a silken lining. 

 The opening to the burrow is with- 

 out a trapdoor. It is slightly elevated 

 above the surface, where it is always gar- 

 nished by a collarette of dry leaves or 

 any other sort of debris retained within 

 the threads. The eggs, which were ob- 

 served on the 12th of January, are not 

 agglutinated. They are enveloped in a 

 simple cocoon of cottony tissue, white and 

 opaque; are placed near the bottom of 

 the burrow, and suspended from one of 

 the walls by a very short pedicle or 

 stalk. 1 (See Fig. 172.) 



A large female Tarantula, probably 

 Eurypelma hentzii, or a closely related 

 species, was sent to me from the West 

 Indies, and arrived at the Academy dur- 

 ing a prolonged absence. She died be- 

 fore my return, and was preserved in 

 spirits ; but afforded me an opportunity, 

 which I had long desired, of determining the egg cocoon made by this family 

 of the Theraphosoidae. While cleaning out the box in which 

 she had been sent I observed a piece of spinningwork within, 

 which proved to be an abandoned cocoon. When inflated it 

 showed a hollow spheroid composed of thick silken cloth, somewhat soiled 

 on the outside, but within clean and white. It measured two inches along 

 the longer axis and one and one-fourth inch along the shorter one. It 



FIG. 172. The burrow of Psalistops melano- 

 phygia, showing the cocoon suspended at 

 the bottom. (After Simon.) 



Tarantula 

 Cocoon. 



1 Simon, Arachnides de Venezuela, page 197, plate 3, Fig. 1. 



