How Animals Work. 



spiders just weave a loose, fluffy mass of silk, without 

 any particular shape, others will be found to take the 

 greatest pains and trouble to weave their cocoons into 

 all sorts of graceful shapes, and in some cases trim 

 them with pieces of leaves and grass, and other materials ; 



these extraneous ob- 

 jects being attached 

 to the cocoon, not 

 so much for its 

 adornment, but the 

 better to hide it 

 from the eyes of 

 foes. This is par- 

 ticularly well de- 

 monstrated in the 

 case of the little 

 so-called " Fairy- 

 lamp " or " Mason " 

 Spider, which 

 weaves a most de- 

 lightful little casket 

 of glistening white 

 silk that looks for 

 all the world like a 

 fairy Japanese lan- 

 tern as it swings on 



Cocoon of Basket Spider. some slender ^ 



or heather stem. But no sooner is this charming piece 

 of weaving accomplished than the spider sets to work 

 ruthlessly to destroy its striking beauty by daubing it 

 all over with mud. Up and down the stem of the 

 plant to which she has attached her cocoon the little 



