104 HOME STUDIES IN NATURE. 



In a former chapter I gave some account of a pet 

 spider which built a tower above her burrow, and there- 

 fore I named her Tarantula turrioula. Just as I was 

 closing the sketch she became the mother of a numer- 

 ous family. 



As far as I have observed, the young of other mem- 

 bers of this family escape from their cocoon through 

 the seam which extends around the central part : it is 

 thinner at this point, and splits nearly around the whole 

 circumference, so that the young come out in a body ; 

 but with this species they cut a smooth round hole in 

 the cocoon, just large enough for them to come out one 

 by one. 



During the past eight weeks I have kept close watch 

 of this curious family, carefully noting the behavior of 

 the mother, who, like 



" The old woman that lived in a shoe, 

 Had so many children she didn't know what to do." 



The first three weeks the little things are piled all 

 over the head and thorax of the mother, often com- 

 pletely blinding her. They seem ambitious to reach 

 the highest point, and jostle and crowd one another in 

 their efforts to be at the top of the heap. The mother 

 patiently endures it for a time, but when they become 

 too thick over her eyes, she takes her long fore -legs, 

 which she uses as feelers or hands, and reaching up 

 scrapes off an armful, which she holds straight in front 

 of her, as if looking at them, and perhaps giving them 



