56 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 



branches of a dry mesquite treCj 

 with some of the dry mesquite 

 leaves interwoven to a branch at 

 its base. After removing the en- 

 tire branch with the oval shaped 

 and silk-like glittering nest, I pre- 

 pared at home the fine photo seen 

 elsewhere in this issue with ex- 

 tra focusing lenses to camera. 



SpinER Breeding Nest in a Large 

 Silver Spoon. 



After the outer capsule of the co- 

 coon was opened with scissors 

 and some of the weblinings con- 

 taining myriads of pinhead large 

 spiders and ova were artificially 

 expelled outside the cotjobn, as 

 seen in the photo. The young spi- 

 ders proved on microscopic exam- 

 ination, to be of the same type* of 

 arachnids as the two large prairie 

 spiders described and this speci- 

 men illucidates how wonderfully 



these and • other spiders provide 

 for their offspring, as this nest, 

 with its living contents, was pre- 

 pared by the mother spider to 



Tarantula-Kh.ling Wasp CAt/RViNG 

 Off A Spider. 



survive during a bitter cold winter 

 when the nest would have been ex- 

 posed to severe cold and rainy 

 weather, and afford the young in 

 spring or summer time to escape 

 its. protective hull and escape on 

 the prairie plains. 



The trapdoor spider species, 



Trapdoor Spider (Slightly Matrnified.l ' 



