132 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [June, 



around in a circle as if her body was fastened to the ground by a 

 pivot touching her spinneret down to the ground at intervals. 

 It became evident after a few circles that she was drawing out a 

 strand of silk and fastening it down with every touch. This pro- 

 cess was continued until quite a mat was made, when the whole 

 thing was taken up and carried down the burrow. What went 

 on in the burrow I do not know, but the next morning the mouth 

 was sealed with a film of web. About three days later, in the 

 morning, I found the spider standing in the mouth of the burrow 

 twirling, with the hind legs, a brand new egg-ball in the sun. After 

 some time she went down again and before the day was done a 

 new film was made. From this time on I saw the spider at ir- 

 regular intervals. She would stay sealed up in the burrow for 

 two days or more, then in the morning — always in the morning — 

 the film would be rudely torn away and the spider would stand 

 motionless holding the ball in the sun or twirling it with her hind 

 legs. Again, she walked about the box, took a drink of water, 

 or ate a fly before returning to the burrow. She frequently 

 detached the ball and, holding it in her jaws, made a sort of 

 "shirred" ridge around it. What this process was for I could 

 not make out. She may have been making the fastenings firmer, 

 or she may have been testing the eggs in some peculiar fashion. 

 After about a week of these proceedings the spider went into the 

 burrow and remained sealed up for three or four days. One 

 morning after this she issued forth to take a drink of water with 

 her back literally crowded with tiny white spiders. After a short 

 time she went into the burrow with her family and, as usual, was 

 seen no more that day ; but the burrow was not sealed. She 

 came out every day after this and caught flies in spite of her 

 family burdens. The little spiders had no share in these meals, 

 but seemed to thrive notwithstanding. At this stage the glass 

 was accidentally pushed off and the spider escaped. Several 

 days later she was recaptured, but the little ones were gone ex- 

 cept six. These I put into pill-boxes. Each spider had a box 

 to itself. The boxes were partly filled with earth, and all were 

 covered with a sheet of glass. They were fed on the tiniest flies 

 to be found, at first, and grew rapidly, casting their skins at in- 

 tervals. Before each moult they stopped eating for a day or two, 

 built a little shelter of web and earth against the side of the box, 

 and under this the skin was cast. At no other time did they 



