LACTRODECTUS, THE POISONOUS 183 



ful piece of construction, made of threads ex- 

 ceedingly coarse ; in fact so coarse that one may 

 detect the presence of the black widow by her 

 web alone. No set pattern is used in its mak- 

 ing ; a few silken strands which she has run criss- 

 cross with a more or less carelessly made funnel- 

 shaped, more closely woven retreat, built in 

 some dark corner, is all there is to the crude 

 structure. 



When egg-laying time comes a small, globu- 

 lar, closely woven, rather hard, silken sack is 

 made, filled with tiny eggs and suspended by 

 several threads to the main web. Owing to the 

 collection of dust it is often a dirty white color. 

 The eggs soon hatch after being laid, but the 

 young do not necessarily emerge just then. 

 Sometimes they remain within the egg case 

 many days and moult before coming out; 

 further, they always wait for a sunny day to 

 come before showing themselves. They are at 

 first a light yellowish gray color, but after a 

 number of moults turn black like the parents. 

 Unlike the young lycosid spiders, who cling to 

 the mother and ride about for some time on her 

 back and legs, the young black widows show 



