GENEKAL COCOONING HABITS OF SPIDERS. 



133 



Cocoon 



Nest. 



This species, however, as described by the English authors, does not 

 correspond with my recollection of the inhabitant of the pretty nest which 

 I have noticed. It is possible that my memory may be at fault, 

 and that this cocooning tent was prepared by the female of Clu- 

 biona erratica. American Drassids, as we have seen, make simi- 

 lar spherical nests, but I know none that thus hangs them to foliage. 



The substantial agreement in cocooning habit between the Drassids of 

 America and those of Europe may further be. seen by comparing the fol- 

 lowing descriptions of English species. The female of Drassus ater con- 

 structs a large white cell of close texture, usually in a hole in the earth or 

 under a stone. Within this, in the month of May, she places a piano con- 

 vex cocoon, which is attached by its flat side to the stone or other sub- 

 stance on which the cell is formed. This cocoon is white or slightly yel- 



FlG. 159. 



FIG. 161. 



English 

 Drassids. 



FIG. 160. 



De Gear's sketches of Clubiona'cocoon nests. 

 FIG. 159. On birch leaves. FIG. 160. Cocoon of the same. FIG. 161. Nest on an apple leaf. 



lowish at first, but afterwards becomes yellowish in color. The female re- 

 mains on guard by her eggs. 



The cocoon of Drassus sylvestris is white, of a flattened shape, and a 

 little less than one-third inch in diameter. It is formed in July 

 and concealed in the silken cell in a hole in the earth under 

 stones. The mother is usually found with her cocoons. 

 Drassus lapidicolens conceals herself in a cell formed between the sur- 

 face of the earth and the under side of a stone, near which she spins some 

 threads, forming an irregular square. In this cell, in the months of July 

 and August, she places her cocoon, covering it with dead leaves. This, at 

 first, is in the form of a flattened sphere, but becomes nearly round when 

 the young are about to escape. It is white and about one-half an inch in 

 diameter. The mother remains with her young some time after the eggs 

 are hatched. The cocoons formed by the beautiful little Drassus nitens 

 are about one-sixth inch in diameter, hemispherical, and white. The 

 mother inhabits a tube which proceeds from the upper side of the cocoon. 1 



See descriptions of Blackwall and Staveley. 



