GENERAL COCOONING HABITS OF SPIDERS. 



153 



flat circular plate which is attached to the object, rock, bark, or wood on 

 which the cocoon is spun ; and, second, a convex covering which fastens 

 above the eggs like a cap. The 

 inside is lined with pure white 

 silk, but the outside is often 

 of a grayish brown, and ap- 

 parently is purposely soiled in 

 order to subdue the color. Usu- 

 ally there is 110 flossy pad- 

 ding for the eggs. I am not 

 sufficiently acquainted with co- 

 coons of this tribe to enter 

 largely into a comparison with 

 those of others, but the forms 

 known to me and above de- 

 scribed are Drobablv tVDical ^ IG< 18 ^' Cocoon f Huntsman spider, as clasped and carried 

 * * by the mother. (View from above.) 



and substantially represent the 



maternal industry of the Laterigrades of the United States, and probably 



of the globe. 



The well known tropical species, Heterapoda venatoria, or the Hunts- 

 man spider, is one of the largest of the Laterigrade species, and may 

 properly be classed with the spider fauna of the United States, 

 as I have specimens from Florida. It abounds in the West 

 ~ , Indies. The cocoon is a large double convex or piano convex 

 erapoda. object, resembling those of Thomisus and other species when 

 woven against various surfaces. It appears, however, to be car- 

 ried by the mother; at least, one female preserved by me in a box wove 

 a cocoon of this sort which she carried in the manner represented at Fig 



189, which gives a view from 

 above, and Fig. 190 a view 

 from beneath. The button like 

 cocoon was put beneath the 

 body, which it almost entirely 

 covered ; at one end it appeared 

 to be attached to the spinner- 

 ets, and at the other was held 

 tightly by the outspread palps. 

 The mother made an awkward 

 appearance as she straddled 

 about the box, holding her 



FIG. 190. Cocoon of Huntsman spider, clasped by the mother, legs high Up aild Outspread 

 (View from beneath.) oyer ^ cumbergome COC OOn. 



If this be fairly representative of the prevailing habit of this widely 

 distributed species, we have among the Laterigrades also an example of 



1 



man 



