94 HOME STUDIES IN NATURE. 



On the 6th of October the young spiders are hatched, 

 and very comical they look perched on the mother's 

 back, and even on her head and legs. "When I captured 





FEMALE SPIDER WITH YOUNG. 



her three months ago in this same condition she was 

 wild and frightened ; now she is tame and quiet. She 

 carried the cocoon two months before the eggs hatched. 



She never leaves her home ; her favorite position is 

 sitting on the top of her tower, with her legs folded 

 beneath her. Any unusual noise, like the sudden 

 closing of a door, always alarms her and sends her 

 quickly within ; but she has become so accustomed to 

 my presence that she allows me to move the jar with- 

 out leaving her position, and she takes food from my 

 fingers, yet if a stranger comes into the room she always 

 seems to know it. 



She takes strong insects, like grasshop - >ers or large 

 moths, into her cellar to kill them ; and iwhen their 

 struggles have ceased she brings them up and deliber- 



