NATURE'S CALENDAR 



January 6 



ders, remain within their snug, silk-lined 

 houses, rarely going out from November 

 to April ; and if you were to put a ther- 

 mometer into one of their tubes you 

 would find it comparatively warm. Mrs. 

 Mary Treat tells us that she found the 

 " parlor " of a large trap-door spider in 

 her yard to have a temperature of 40° F. 

 when the outside air was only 20^ F. 

 above zero. It is during this winter con- 

 finement that their eggs are produced, 

 and when the females emerge in April 

 each brings with her a sack full of eggs 

 attached to her spinneret. 



As for the moUusks, those that live in 

 the sea simply crawl into greater depths 

 as the water cools along the shore ; or 

 they keep beneath the ice when, like our 

 various river mussels and pond snails, 

 they inhabit fresh waters. There is no 

 doubt, howev^er, that shell-fish can endure 

 extreme cold as well as excessive drouth. 

 One sort certainly is obliged to do so in 

 our northern climate — the land snail. 



If in midwinter you pry apart moulder- 

 ing logs, overturn deeply embedded stones, 

 or search about out-house cellars, you 

 may find any number of these familiar lit- 

 tle mollusks of our gardens, quiet but in 

 good health. It will be noticed, however, 

 that alllie with the aperture or "mouth" 

 of the shell upward, and probably glued 

 to a support; and also that this aperture 

 is always closed by a whitish m.embrane 

 of hardened mucus which closes it like a 



January 7 



