194 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [June, 



it roughened and protuberant: or with a cup-Hke depression, in 

 which there is usually a tubercle or other process; or there maj' 

 be a conic projection, with or without a depression at the tip; 

 sometimes instead of a conic protuberance or a depression, we 

 have a flattened, plate-like projection varying in form, and generic 

 characters are furnished by these modifications. It is quite a 

 characteristic of the fauna of the elevated Western plateaus that 

 the majority of the species have the front modified in some way, 

 while along the Atlantic coast and in the Northeastern and central 

 portions of our country this character is somewhat exceptional. 

 The clothing of the head may be hairy or scaly; smoothly applied 

 or forming tuftings, and we get some generic characters here. 



(To be continued.) 



Phidippus opifex McCook. — In that admirable work on American 

 Spiders by Dr. H. C. McCook, he says: "I know no Sahigrade and no 

 Lateragrade that produces more than one cocoon, although of the former 

 Stavely says that Epiblenmm scenicum makes one or two, and of the latter 

 that Phi/odromus ccespiticolis deposits two flattened cocoons in a large 

 nest." 



I have repeatedly gathered the cocoon nests of this Phidippus in search- 

 ing for parasites on their eggs, and have seldom, or ever, found one with 

 less than two cocoons, and I have found them with as many as four; three 

 is a very common number. 



The nests may generally be found in the centre of some foot-hill shrub 

 of Sage or Encelia, the illustration thereof as given by Dr. McCook is 

 very typical. In the seclusion of her nest the female first spins a shallow- 

 disc, in which the eggs of a pinkish red color are placed; over this, but 

 quite separate from it, she weaves a cover larger but less firm in texture 

 and pats it down so uniformly as to leave the lid impressed exactly like a 

 thimble top. The convex sides are made to adhere by a few loose threads 

 wound round at their junction and finally covered over with a sheet of 

 web that separates it from the cell occupied by the female. The young 

 all hatch out in August or September, and in their growth naturally sepa- 

 rate the sides and escape into the surrounding cottony mass, where they 

 safely remain until the Spring. — Anstruther Davidson, M. D., Los 

 Angeles, Cal. 



The following has been received: Agricultural College, Las Cruces, 

 N. Mex., U. S. A., May i, 1893. Please take note that my address, after 

 June I, i8g3, will be as follows: C. H. Tyler Townsend, Curator of Mu- 

 seum, Institute of Jamaica, Kingston, W. Indies. 



We wish Prof. Townsend all prosperity in his new field of labor. 



