GENERAL COCOONING HABITS OF SPIDERS. 143 



At all events we may consider it fairly well assured that, in her cocoon- 



ing habits, the female Tarantula throughout most, or perhaps all, species, 



closely resembles the Lycosidae, and the resemblance probably ex- 



tends to all the Territelariae. In other words, the Theraphosicl 



cocoon is, first, round or ovoid ; second, is carried about with the mother, 



attached to her body, or kept under her care; and, third, the young for a 



period longer or shorter remain with their mother. The affinity between 



these two great groups of araneads is also marked in their nesting habits ; 



both burrow into the ground a cylindrical tunnel or shaft, within which 



they domicile, sometimes lining it more or less completely with silk. 



IV. 



Passing now into the group of Wandering spiders, we reach the co- 

 coonery of the Citigrades, and here find little variety in structure, with 

 scarcely an exception. The cocoons of this 

 tribe are round balls without any interior 

 furnishing, which are carried by the moth- 

 er within her jaws, as in the case of Dol- 

 omedes, or lashed to the spinnerets, as 

 with the Lycosids and most other species. 

 (Fig. 174.) The manner in which the co- 



coon is made has been quite fully de- Fi<*. 174. Lycosa carrying her round cocoon 



scribed by myself. 1 lashed to her s P innerets - 



While walking in the suburbs of Philadelphia, I found under a stone 

 a female Lycosa (probably L. riparia Hentz),- which I placed in a jar on 



dry earth. For two days the spider remained on the surface 



Lycosa's near iy inactive. The earth was then moistened, whereupon 



060 (May 2d) she immediately began digging, continuing until she 



ing- na< ^ m ade a cavity about one inch in depth and height. The 



top was then carefully overlaid with a tolerably closely woven 

 sheet of white spinning work, so that the spider was entirely shut in. This 

 cover she fortunately made against the glass side of the jar, and the move- 

 ments of the inmate were thus exposed to view. Shortly after the cave 

 was covered the spider was seen working upon a circular cushion of 

 white silk, about three-fourths of an inch in diameter, which was spun 

 upwards in a nearly perpendicular position against the earthen wall of 

 the cave. The cushion looked so much like the work of Agalena nasvia, 

 and the whole operations of the Lycosa were so like those of that spider 

 when cocooning, that I was momentarily possessed with the thought that 

 I had mistaken the identity altogether, and again examined her carefully, 

 only to be sure that she was indeed a Lycosid. 



Lycosa fabricates her round cocoon." Proceed. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1884, 

 page 138. 



