270 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [11:6— Sept., 1915 



Place one of the black jumping spiders in your glass bottle 

 and look for the eyes and mandibles. Keep some of them in 

 captivity for a few days to determine whether they make any kind 

 of a web. 



There is yet another spider that you may find in the fall. Look 

 on flowers — clusters of golden-rods for a small yellow spider. 

 What is its shape? What is peculiar about its legs? What does 

 it do when you touch it? It is called a crab spider. Can you 

 tell why? 



Besides the spiders named above, you may find in the woods 

 or orchards some of the interesting hunch-backs that make 

 wonderful webs and are themselves wonderfully protected by 

 their colorings. 



The children will be sure to find, while they are carrying on 

 the investigations of spiders and their homes, a number of egg sacs 

 or cocoons. Begin early to make a collection of these. Place 

 them in boxes or glass jars in the schoolroom for further study. 



If you have one of the large orb weavers in your terrarium 

 you will be almost certain to find after a few weeks, an egg cocoon 

 hanging in the web or in a corner of the terrarium. 



A grass spider placed in a box or glass with a few bits of dry 

 leaves will rarely fail to deposit a cocoon of eggs. 



The egg cocoons of the house-spider, as we have already noticed, 

 are found hanging in the upper portion of the irregular web and 

 may be removed for study. 



Compare the different egg cocoons as to size, color, shape, 

 and outside covering. Which ones seem best fitted for protection 

 against weather conditions? Where were these found? 



Open two or three cocoons and note the size, color and number 

 of eggs. Keep a number of the cocoons in the terrarium or glasses 

 until the young spiders emerge. 



Make a careful study of the young spiders. In what do they 

 differ from the mature spider? Are they able to spin webs from 

 the very beginning? Watch carefully to determine how they 

 start away from the egg sac. Keep some of them in a cool place 

 until spring, to make a further study of the young spiders. 



Raise the problem as to how spiders spend the winter. Place 

 some of the glasses with the jumping spiders, crab spiders, funnel 

 weavers and house-spiders in a cool place in the basement to see 

 whether or not they live over winter. A field trip very late in 



