236 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



the habits of the younglings of other tribes. We shall find that, in propor- 

 tion as the general habits of the species approach one another, there is a 

 likeness in the behavior of the young. Between Lineweavers 

 Young an( j Orbweavers there is little difference. Their cocoons are com- 

 m ., monly suspended within the intersecting lines that constitute the 

 regular snare. The little ones issue from the cocoon and arrange 

 themselves in fluffy masses, following the tendency, which has already been 

 noted, to climb as far towards the top as they can. Here they remain for 

 a little while undisturbed by the mother and, as far as I know, unre- 

 garded by her. Soon they spin themselves away to various convenient 

 sites in the neighborhood, and establish housekeeping for themselves. Thus, 

 in the case of those spiders which weave several cocoons, one brood after 

 another will appear and disappear. 



Pholcus phalangioides, the " daddy longlegs " or cellar spider of our 

 province, carries her bundle of eggs in her jaws until the little ones are 

 ready to hatch, when she abandons them and they 

 take their place, in accordance with the custom of 

 other Lineweavers, at the top of the home snare. 



It will thus be seen that the young Lineweavers 

 reared within the limits of the maternal snare have 

 precisely the same habit as Orbweavers, like Epeira 

 labyrinthea, that deposit their cocoons near their 

 orbs within a supplemental snare of retitelarian lines. 

 The young of Agalena na3via remain within the 

 cocoon until they are lively little creatures covered 

 with black hairs, apparently well able to skirmish 



FIG. 259. A colony of young ' rr / _ 



s, Epibiemum seen- f or themselves. They then issue forth, and may be 

 r found in great multitudes upon a dewy morning 

 hanging beneath little sheeted webs spun upon the 

 grass, leaves, upon the roadside, and even within the furrows of newly 

 plowed fields. They are pretty little snares when thus covered 

 with the beaded drops of morning dew, forming beautiful ob- 

 jects for study under a common pocket lens. 



Tegenaria medicinalis presents little difference from Agalena in the gen- 

 eral habit of the young. They leave the egg nest, rapidly disperse, and 

 spread themselves into the neighborhood and immediately construct their 

 characteristic webs. 



The tendency of young spiders of the Wandering tribes to form colo- 

 nies is not very decided, as, of course, the manner in which the young- 

 lings are reared within the mother's nest until they are able to set up 

 housekeeping for themselves precludes such special habits as we find in 

 the assemblages of Orbweavers and Lineweavers. But when the young 

 Saitigrades have abandoned the maternal cell, groups of them may be 

 seen underneath a bit of bark occupying their own tiny cells, which lie 



icum, under bark. 

 Herman.) 



Agalena. 



