38 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 
had been collected by him after construction, I can hardly forbear the 
feeling that even this structure may be accounted for on the same prin- 
ciple as above, without bringing to bear upon it the theory of a social 
community. It is a most interesting point which can only be elucidated 
by future observation. 
Simon does indeed say that the incubating chamber, with its included 
ten cocoons, has five or six females who have assumed the duties of mater- 
nity. Did he observe these in the joint act of constructing the case? If 
not, did he reach this conclusion by finding the dead bodies of several 
females enclosed within the chamber along with their cocoons? If he 
did not observe the actual construction of the outer case, his inference 
that the enclosed cocoons must have been the work of several females 
could only have come from the fact that five or six adult females were 
found inside. In the absence of this definite information one is perhaps 
justified in suspecting that the cocoons, as described, may have been en- 
closed by one mother. 
The number is indeed large as compared with that produced by the 
ordinary Orbweaver, but by no means peculiar; for, as I have shown,! 
Cyclosa bifurca produces as many as thirteen cocoons, which are 
Mothers }ound together by a flossy string. The Basilica spider? encloses 
with . math : P ; , 
five cocoons within an exterior case of like tissue, which she 
many Co- . Sop ; : 
coons. - 8Pins above her snare. Theridium serpentinum® will produce as 
many as eight cocoons, which are assembled close to one another 
at the top of her meshed net, and enclosed within thickened walls of spin- 
ningwork. Yet more striking, perhaps, is the cocoon string of Segestria 
canities,* which contains as many as twelve cocoons overlapping one another 
like the tiles upon a roof, and overlaid with a thick sheet of spinningwork, 
which is further protected by a rude thatch of leaves collected from the 
bush upon which it hangs. The spider’s tubular home is woven at one 
side of her treasures, and the whole is surrounded by an external maze of 
network supported upon the branches of adjoining shrubbery. These cases 
at least demonstrate that the example of spinningwork described by M. 
Simon might have been the product of one mother’s industry. 
Whatever may be the truth as to the above point, these two facts are 
clear, viz., first, that the exhibition of sociability, if Simon’s view be ac- 
cepted, is limited to a few hours, or at most days. It is an inci- 
dental characteristic, and does not entitle the species to be called 
social any more than the fraternal communism of young spiders 
during the first few days after issuing from the egg. Second, even if the 
incubating chamber of Epeira bandelieri be the product of joint labor, the 
fact is only faintly comparable to the highly organized communal indus- 
Conclu- 
sions. 
1Vol. IL, page 103, Fig. 96. 5Thid., page 112, Fig. 108. 
*Tbhid., page 105, Figs. 98, 99. tTbid., page 136, Figs. 165, 166. 
