94 MOTHS AMONG SPIDERS. 



so strongly marked as those wont to be exhibited by a species 

 of spider common under clods of earth, and often seen carry- 

 ing her eggs in a white silken bag fastened to the end of her 

 body. " No miser," says Kirby, " clings to his treasure with 

 more solicitude than this spider to her bag. She carries it 

 with her everywhere. If you deprive her of it she makes the 

 most strenuous efforts for its recovery. If you restore it, her 

 actions demonstrate her joy. She seizes it, and with the 

 utmost agility runs off with it to a place of security. 



" When the proper time arrives, she makes an opening in 

 the bag for the young to come forth, when they run in clus- 

 ters on her back and legs ; she carries them about with her, 

 and feeds them till able to help themselves."* 



Bonnet's relation concerning an individual of the same 

 species affords a striking parellel to those often recorded of 

 cats, tigers, and bears, when robbed of their young. To put 

 her affection to the test, he threw her into the pit of a large 

 ant-lion, in the sand. The fierce creature seized her bag, 

 when she struggled till its fastening gave way. She then re- 

 gained it with her jaws, but by superior strength he pulled it 

 into the sand, into which, rather than forsake her treasure, 

 she suffered herself to be dragged also. Bonnet forced her 

 from it, but, though repeatedly pulled away, she would not 

 leave the spot. Many other species of the spider race have 

 shown themselves scarcely inferior in maternal attachment. 



* ' Introduction to Entomology.' 



