CHAPTER VII. 



MATERNAL INSTINCTS: MOTHERHOOD. 



IN the chapters immediately preceding I have described the various 

 devices and forms of spinning industry prompted by maternal instinct 

 for preserving offspring. Apart from this the mere industrial or archi- 

 tectural expression of motherhood there are some facts in the natural 

 history of the maternal habit which may perhaps best be considered in a 

 separate chapter. Such, for example, are the motives which regulate the 

 choice of a cocoon site ; the methods of ovipositing ; the measure of ma- 

 ternal purpose as taken from the complexity, isolation, or vigil of the 

 cocoon ; the causes regulating the number of cocoons and eggs ; the motive 

 controlling the armoring and mud plastering of cocoons ; brooding the 

 egg nest ; the degree of and conditions limiting the maternal anxiety for 

 the eggs; and the intensity and intelligence of the maternal sentiment. 

 These are points of the greatest interest to all naturalists, and are well 

 worthy of a far more extended and philosophic treatment than I feel com- 

 petent to give. But it may be permitted me at least to open the way. 



The sites which spiders choose for their cocoons are, of course, largely 

 determined by their habitat. The cocoons will always be found near by 

 the locality in which the mothers have lived. Although some 

 of them do occasionally move from their native centres, the 

 migration is, as a rule, extremely limited ; and Orbweavers, in- 

 deed all Sedentary spiders, may be considered as practically spending 

 their lives within the narrow compass of the spot where they chance to 

 pitch their first snare. 



The favorite sites of Orbweavers are bushes, low trees, grass, weeds, 

 the angles of walls in the neighborhood of houses and outhouses, and like 

 situations which afford them facilities for hanging their snares. They are 

 frequently exposed to the full blaze of sunlight; some species appear to 

 love the most open exposures in woodlands; others, again, shun the sun- 

 light and are found in woods and forests, in obscure corners, hollow 

 trees, clumps of underbrush, and even, as in the case of Meta, in caves. 

 They hang their nets along the banks of streams, in glens and ravines, 

 on the seaside, on the lowest plains and prairies, and on the tops of the 

 highest mountains, as far up at least as the timber line extends. I have 



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