104 The Structure and Habits cf Spiders. 



collected by Wilder in the spring, less than a 

 quarter were entire, the rest being pierced, or 

 tom in some way, by birds or insects ; so that 

 the spiders were saved the trouble of gnawing 

 their way out, as they can if obliged to. 



I once noticed a small Theridion gnawing at 

 its soft cocoon, and found that one side had 

 been made in this way much thinner than the 

 rest of the cocoon. I put her, with the cocoon, 

 in a bottle where I could watch her ; and she 

 soon commenced biting again, and kept it up 

 the rest of the day. The following night the 

 young came out. 



Many spiders remain by their cocoons till 

 the young come out ; but other species, making 

 similar ones, go away, or die^ and the young get 

 out themselves when they are old enough. 



The young of Micaria cut a smooth round 

 hole in their paper-like cocoon, just large 

 enough for them to come out one by one. 



PARASITES. 



The eggs in the cocoon are very liable to be 

 eaten by parasitic insects. Certain wingless 

 Hytnenoptera are always hunting around in the 



