BURROWING HABITS OF SPIDERS. 25 



is composed of whatever material Tigrina can reach with her long hind 

 legs, while her fore legs rest in the edge of her l.ube. This funnel is the 

 foundation of a concealed room, which it sometimes takes the 

 spider several nights to build. It seems to refrain from working 

 during the day. Mrs. Treat says Unit tho burrow of Tigrina is 

 uniformly straight. My observation is entirely different; that of 

 Arenicola is uniformly straight down, but Tigrina builds a bent burrow as 

 above described. 



A female of this species had a nest in a bed of green moss, and the 

 cover looked like a moundlet of moss and leaves. The longest diameter 

 measured five inches, and the shortest four and a half inches. 

 r ^ ie k ase cover was ma de of acorn cups and sticks firmly held 

 together with threads of silk. Then a silken canopy was spun, and 

 over this were laid green moss, dry leaves, and sticks held fast with spin- 

 ningwork. This made a neat little upper room, the walls of which were 

 smooth, silk lined within, but showed natural inequalities on the outside. 

 A window was left in the room, the use of which soon appeared. 



TW" i~f^T"Vl H 1 



,. The builder had an egg cocoon attached to her spinnerets, and 

 would put herself in position to let this rest against the window 

 where it received the rays of the sun. For three weeks this was her daily 

 occupation, patiently holding her egg sac in the sunlight. Was she riot con- 

 scious of the fact that this aided the healthful development of her progeny ? 

 On the 20th of May the observer removed the cover from the burrow, 

 and toward evening Tigrina began to restore it. She reached out her hind 

 legs, feeling for material, and first drew in an acorn cup and proceeded to 

 fasten it. On the following morning (May 21st) a broad funnel shaped 

 ring had been built around the tube, but not covering it. By May 24th 

 the spider had made a room above her burrow lightly covered with moss. 1 

 The male of Tigrina is a handsome fellow and nearly as large as the 

 female. In color he is a light snuff brown, with dashes of dark purple, 

 while the legs are striped like a tiger's. The female is nearly black. The 

 male takes as much pains in building its domicile as the female; indeed, 

 one confined in a jar entirely outdid the female in making a tasteful retreat. 

 He utilized a little twining plant by winding his web around it, thus mak- 

 ing a living green bower over his tube. 



A New Hampshire Lycosa whose species is unknown was taken from 



a burrow sixteen inches deep by Mrs. Treat, and placed in a glass jar with 



five inches of moist earth well pressed down. It soon commenced 



to dig a burrow next the glass, giving a fine opportunity to see 



it work. It dug the earth loose with its mandibles and with the 



fore feet compressed it into a pellet. It again turned, seized the ball in 



its mandibles, necessitating a third turn, and then came to the edge of the 



1 American Naturalist, August, 1879, page 488. 



