MATERNAL INSTINCTS: MOTHERHOOD. 203 



Nevertheless, it must be admitted that the entire actions of the spider 

 are such as one would expect from an individual that had been thoroughly 



instructed, had acquired skill from experience, and was pursuing 

 _ ar a matured plan with all the evidences of forethought and skill, 



thought r ^ illustrate this fact, one may refer to the method practiced by 



Argiope in making her cocoon. Nothing could be more indic- 

 ative of forethought than the manner of placing the eggs at the outset 

 upon the little saucer shaped disk prepared for their reception, and which 

 are retained in their place by means of the silken sac swiftly woven 

 over them. The preparation of the thick padded purple mass which next 

 envelops this strikes our attention as indicating wise skill. The manner 

 in which this is woven so as to produce the loose substance that envelops 

 the eggs, and at the same time is compacted into a solid and shapely mass, 

 is certainly what the artisan might denominate a "mechanical job." 



Then, again, contrast the mode of weaving this object with that prac- 

 ticed upon the external case of the cocoon. As has been shown in full 

 detail, the method of spinning is here quite different, and corresponds 

 closely with the character of the fibre to be spun. In other words, as it is 

 the intention of the mother to make the outer case a closely woven tissue, 

 instead of a loose mass like the purple pad above alluded to, she proceeds 

 to tighten the threads, bracing them upon each other and compacting 

 them by all the methods familiar to her spinning art. 



Nor can we fail to mention here the manner in which the service is 

 equalized so that every part is of nearly equal thickness and evenly dis- 

 tributed, so as to form the shapely pyrifbrm cocoon familiar to most 

 wanderers in our fields. As has been explained, this is done by carrying 

 the silken filaments as they are outspun from point to point while the 

 spider circumambulates the surface. That such a practice requires a di- 

 recting purpose, and that such a method is the outcome of an express 

 design, seems the most manifest conclusion. The spider spins her cocoon 

 case very much after the manner in which a lady winds up a ball of silken 

 thread or of embroidering wool. One would think it as unreasonable to 

 say that the manner in which the ball in the lady's hand is shaped into 

 its globular form is without any directing purpose on her part, as that 

 the mother Argiope, in forming her cocoon ball, wraps the silken material 

 of which it is composed without any guiding purpose to keep it even. 



Take another example, to illustrate this point, the remarkable mud ball 

 of Micaria limicunas. The cocoon sac has been shown to be a white oval 



case within which the eggs are spun, and which is connected to 

 The Mud some sur f ace by a little silken cord or pedicle attached to the 

 -j, , top. This sac made, the spider proceeds to cover it with mud, 



and so works that, when she has finished, the enclosing shell of 

 mortar is, with scarcely an exception in a large number of specimens ex- 

 amined, a well rounded globe. Now, how has the spider proceeded to 



