SPIDERS 131 



eggs, daub them all over with mud, the better to hide them from 

 prying eyes. 



The Wolf Spiders (Lycosidcz) carry their cocoons about with 

 them wherever they go, often attached to their spinnerets. These 

 spiders are hunters, and may often be seen pursuing their prey 

 with their large white egg-bags bumping along over the ground 

 behind them. When the young Wolf Spiders are hatched they 

 mount on to their mother's back, and stay there clinging tightly 

 to her soft hairs for about a week, when they disperse and begin 

 to hunt on their own account. 



Spiders do not undergo a metamorphosis. But although a 

 spider is a spider directly it hatches from the egg, it differs in 

 several ways from the mature animal, and it is not until after a 

 series of moults that it becomes a perfect spider. When a young 

 spider first emerges from the egg, it is swathed in a membranous 

 sheath which covers it completely, so that the mouth and spinning 

 tubes are closed. This membrane the newly-hatched spider throws 

 off before it leaves the cocoon, and the operation has been described 

 as follows \ l " While it held on to the glossy nest with the two 

 front and third pair of legs, the hind pair was drawn up and for- 

 ward, and the feet grasped the upper margin of the sac-like shell, 

 which, when first seen, was about half-way removed from the 

 abdomen. The feet pushed downwards, and at the same time the 

 abdomen appeared to be pulled upward until the white pouch 

 was gradually worked off." 



Soon after the young spider has cast its first skin it usually 

 leaves the shelter of the cocoon, although in some cases it may 

 remain there for some little time. Whole families of young spiders 

 belonging to the Orb-weavers (Epeiridce) live together amicably 

 for a week or two before they disperse, and during this period they 

 do not feed. As soon as a desire for food is awakened the young 

 spiders begin to prey on the minute forms of insect life round 

 about, and if this happens to be scarce they will proceed to devour 

 each other. It is obvious that large families of spiders, each num- 

 bering perhaps several hundred, cannot live and fare well if they 

 all settle down in close proximity to one another. It is necessary 

 that they should seek new hunting grounds as far apart as possible, 

 and it is the custom in many families of spiders for the young ones 



x M'Cook : " American Spiders and their Spinning Work.' 



