72 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



the young are hatched, it is not uncommon to observe the mother wan- 

 dering over the fields with all her offspring piled upon her abdomen and 

 the lower part of the cephalothorax a strange, and, to most beholders, a 

 horrible sight, since the ordinary observer is not apt to associate the un- 

 couth vision with the beautiful maternal devotion which the spider thus 

 shows, and which has its analogue in the human mother bearing her 

 child in her arms, or carrying it upon her bosom. Moreover, the exca- 

 vating and fitting up these subterranean homes is a strong proof of a de- 

 cidedly industrious character, and the- act requires the exercise of great 

 vigor, which, of course, is exclusively by the female. 



As a matter of fact, therefore, I am compelled to think that among all 

 Wandering groups the difference between the activity of male and female 

 is certainly not in favor of the former. Whatever conclusions, therefore, 

 are drawn from the belief that the male is possessed of greater activity 

 and vital force than the female, must, in my judgment, be regarded as 

 erroneous. That he is more erratic, in certain species, is true. 



V. 



There appears to be little doubt that previous to the act of pairing, the 

 fertilizing fluid is extruded from the sexual organs of the male upon par- 

 ticles of spinningwork, thence is transferred to the dig- 

 ital joint of the male palps (Figs. 35 and 36), whence 

 it is conveyed to the epigynum of the female. 

 Convey- r^-^ Q alternate inflation and contraction of the 

 , palpal bulb is probably the means by which 



the fertilizing fluid is forced into its proper 

 receptacle. Various naturalists have been able to estab- 

 lish this fact. Menge has observed, in the cases of Lin- 

 yphia, Agalena, and Lycosa, this fluid collected from 

 the sheet like spinningwork. 1 



Mr. Campbell, in the case of Tegenaria guyonii above 

 cited, was able to confirm this account. It was only dur- 

 ing the last moments of the process that reflected light 

 permitted him to see a triangular silken sheet attached 

 to the spider behind the abdominal sexual organ by its 

 apex, and by its external angles to the mesh across 

 the bottle in which the aranead was confined. The 

 sheet extended from under the abdomen to the anterior 

 part of the sternum, and lay above the palps. The male 

 now left the sheet and approached the female ; but she 

 appeared heedless of his addresses. The observer seized him, and in his 

 attempts to evade capture he injured the silken sheet. An examination 



1 Preussische Spinnen. 



Digital joints of males. 



FIG. 35 (upper). Epeira tri- 



vittata. FIG. 36. Epeira 



