•218 THEIR PARENTAL ATTACHMENT. 



genus Lycosa, Professor Hentz remarks, — " We may 

 witness astonishing instances of maternal tenderness 

 and courage, and that, too, in the most cruel race of 

 animals ; a race, in which ferocity renders even the 

 approach of the sexes a perilous act, and condemns 

 every individual to perpetual solitude and apprehen- 

 sions of its own kind. When a mother is found 

 with the cocoon containing the progeny, if this be 

 forcibly torn from her, she turns round and grasps it 

 with her mandibulae. All her limbs, one by one, may 

 then be torn from her body, without forcing her to 

 abandon her hold. But if, without mangling the 

 mother, the cocoon be skilfully removed from her, 

 and suddenly thrown out of sight, she instantaneously 

 loses all her activity, seems paralyzed, and coils her 

 tremulous limbs as if mortaUy wounded : if the bag 

 be returned, her ferocity and strength are restored 

 the moment she has any perception of its presence, 

 and she rushes to her treasure to defend it to the 

 last." * 



The harmony which nature has established between 

 ths colours of these insects and the places which 

 they inhabit, must not be passed in silence. The 

 species of Epeira, which weave their webs in the 

 air, the Thomisi, which hide themselves in flowers, 

 and the Sparassi, which run over the green sward, 

 * Silliraan's "Journal of Science," Oct. 1831, p. 107. 



