666 THE CLOTHO SPIDER 



are given out, rendering the creature a really beautiful species. The name of " micans," or 

 glittering, is applied to the creature on account of its changing colours. 



AT figs. A and D are shown the two sexes of a curious and prettily marked spider of 

 moderate dimensions, the female measuring nearly half an inch in length. 



This species is mostly found in well-wooded districts, living in a pretty white silken 

 house, which it spins under the shelter of rough bark or shady leaves. The cocoon 

 containing the eggs is placed in this cell, and affectionately tended by the parent. The 

 cocoon is also made of white silk, and generally contains rather more than one hundred 

 spherical eggs. These are very pale yellow in colour, and laid loosely in the cocoon. 

 The cephalothorax of this species is pale dull green, and the abdomen is soft silken grey, 

 with a peculiar velvety lustre, produced by the dense clothing of hair with which it is 

 covered. The specific name, " holosericea," signifies silken, and is therefore very appro- 

 priately given to the species. 



Another species of this genus is shown in the illustration on page 669. It is rather 

 larger than the generality of the Clubionas, being nearly three-quarters of an inch in 

 length. The reader must understand that the length is exclusive of the limbs, and is 

 measured from the front of the cephalothorax to the end of the abdomen. This is a very 

 rare creature, having only once been taken in England. This solitary specimen was 

 found near Cheltenham, but it is likely that others must be in the country, inasmuch as 

 its presence certainly indicates the existence of parents, and probably of relations. The 

 only other supposition is, that a solitary specimen was by accident brought over from the 

 Continent, found its way to Cheltenham, and then happened to fall into the hands of some 

 one who was acquainted with its zoological value. 



THE last example upon this illustration (fig. G) is a really remarkable creature, whose 

 habits have been studied by M. Dufour. That careful naturalist found it in the Pyrenees, 

 in Catalonia, and in the mountains of Narbonne. It has also been discovered in Egypt 

 and Dalmatia. 



Of this Arachnidan, M. Dufour gives a most interesting description, from which the 

 following passage is extracted : 



" It makes at the inferior surface of large stones, and in the clefts of rocks, a cocoon, in 

 the form of a cap, or little dish, a good inch in diameter. Its contour presents seven or 

 eight emarginations, of which the angles alone are fixed upon the stone, by means of 

 bundles of thread, while the edges are free. This singular tent is of an admirable texture : 

 the exterior resembles the finest taffetas, composed, according to the age of the worker, of a 

 greater or less number of doublings. 



Thus, when the Uroctea (another name for the Clotho), as yet young, commences to 

 establish its retreat, it only fabricates two webs, between which it remains in shelter. 

 Subsequently, and, I believe, at each moulting, it adds a certain number of doubles. 

 Finally, when the period marked for reproduction arrives, it weaves a cell for this very 

 purpose, more downy and soft, where the sacs of eggs, and the young ones newly disclosed, 

 are to be shut up. Although the external cap or pavilion is designedly, without doubt, 

 more or less soiled by foreign bodies, which serve to conceal its presence, the apartments 

 of the industrious fabrication are always scrupulously clean. 



The pouches which inclose the eggs are four, five, or even six, for each habitation, 

 which, nevertheless, forms but a single habitation. These pouches are of a lentacular 

 form, and are more than four lines in diameter ; they are formed of a kind of taffeta as 

 white as snow, and furnished internally with a down of the finest kind. It is only at the 

 end of December, or in the month of January, that the laying of the eggs takes place ; it 

 was therefore necessary, beforehand, to provide for the defence of their progeny against 

 both the rigour of the season and hostile incursions. Everything of this kind has been 

 carefully done. The receptacle of this precious deposit is separated from the web, 

 immediately applied upon the stone, by a soft down, and from the external cap by the 

 various stones of which I have spoken. 



Among the emarginations which border the tent, some are altogether closed by the 

 continuity of the stuff ; others have their edges simply lapped over, so that the Uroctea, 



