146 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



ers, that give a touch of natural beauty to the gateway. One of these 

 Lycosid cocooning caves is shown at Figs. 175 and 176. It was made be- 

 neath a stone, and when that was lifted up the spider, Lycosa saccata, 

 showed within as at Fig. 175. The roof of her den was broken off by 

 lifting and is shown in inverted position at Fig. 176. The use of this 

 special cocooning den is common with Lycosids ; but some species, and 

 probably all at times, live within the home burrow while carrying their 

 cocoons. This is the habit of Lycosa arenicola, which may often be seen 

 on her turret with her egg ball at her spinnerets. (See Vol. I., page 314, 

 Fig. 289.) 



There is no flossy wadding within the cocoon case of Lycosids, as is 

 common with Orbweaving spiders. Indeed, such a provision for the com- 

 fort and safety of the brood appears wholly unnecessary in the case of 

 younglings whose egg life is so brief, and of a mother who carries her 

 young about with her, and thus gives them the advantage of her personal 

 protection and care. The Orbweaving mother generally dies within a few 

 days after ovipositing. Personal protection of her offspring is therefore im- 

 possible, and the period of development is often greatly prolonged. Nature 

 has taught her to provide for them the necessary covering of a warm, flossy, 

 silken blanket beneath which they may outlive the changes of weather. 



In the case of Dolomedes, the cocoon is carried by the mother until 

 shortly before the period of hatching, when it is generally deposited within 



a pretty nest composed of leaves 

 drawn together and lashed at the 

 edges into the form of a tent. 

 (See Fig. 177; also Vol. I., Fig. 

 339.) Within this a mass of in- 

 tersecting lines is spun, upon 

 which the cocoon is hung. After 

 hatching the spiderlings occupy 

 the temporary home thus provid- 

 ed for them, and hang' in clusters 

 or individuals upon the intersecting lines. 



Dolomedes differs from Lycosa in the mode of deporting her cocoon, 

 suspending it beneath the abdomen and sternum, so that it is surrounded 

 by the legs. (Fig. 178.) When walking, the mother Dolomede must 

 straighten out her legs as much as possible, and carry her body high. 

 (Figs. 178, 179.) The cocooning habits of the English Dolomedes mira- 

 bilis differ in no particular from those of our American species. She car- 

 ries her cocoon, which is large, globular, and of a dull yellowish color, 

 attached to her body during all her hunting expeditions, until the time 

 approaches for the hatching of the eggs. She then weaves a sheet of 

 close, fine silk upon grasses or the branches of bushes, forming a dome, of 

 which these supply the rafters. 



FIG. 178. Dolomedes sexpunctatus carrying her cocoon. 



