RESEARCHES UIJON SPIDERS. 57 



spiders of the same species accustomed to each other's so- 

 ciety mutually destroy each other whenever they extend 

 their webs and threads into places where they may encoun- 

 ter them. All then (in the adult state?) wish to be alone 

 and will not endure a neighbor who may interfere with 

 their plans.'' 



In order to obviate this inconvenience I made cases so 

 that each spider could occupy his own little house and 

 not extend his dominion beyond it. In this way, in 

 one year I took from 2146 spiders, at one time, 1714 co- 

 coons and at another time I collected 2134.° Reaumur 

 never made so great a collection. I .know well that the 

 expense of these cases will be considerable when the culti- 

 vation of spiders is undertaken very extensively ; I have, 

 however, a more simple and advantageous method. 



In August and September I go in search of the mother 

 spiders in the places which I consider most suitable, and it 

 is not a difficult matter to find in houses and about hedges 

 many hundreds of them. In fact, I did find them, and shut 

 each one in a box of pasteboard or paper, covering it on 

 two sides with a veil or with perforated card, putting into 

 all but a few of the boxes two or three living flies. In due 

 time I found in each paper box a cocoon. I had also been 

 able to make use of such simple boxes as President Le 

 Bon made. Having completed the collection I set the spi- 

 ders at liberty in the places where I had taken them.^ 



b. Probably all young spiders are gregarious for a certain time after 

 they leave the eggs, and one large South American species is said to con- 

 tinue so during life. That this is not impossible is shown by the certain ex- 

 istence of a gregarious spider Neriene errans in England. Annals of 

 Nat. Hisy., 3d Series, Vol. vi, 1860. [Reviser.] 



c. He does not distinctly say that these latter were produced by the 

 same individual spiders as the former. [Reviser.] 



2. When I was in America, travelling over the great Ciaco, I collected 

 thus 2484 very large spiders, which, being then placed upon a double row of 

 pomegranate trees, gave me 2013 great cocoons of the best yellow silk. I took 

 out the eggs from the cocoons, which (calculating six cocoons for each spider, 

 and between 600 and 1000 little spiders for each cocoon) exceeding 9 000 000 



communications ESSEX INST. VOL. V. 9. JULY 31, 1866. 



