46 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 
It. 
I took a female Epeira trifolium from her nest in order to observe 
the changes of color. She was kept within a glass vessel for forty-eight 
hours, and then returned to her old web and placed upon it near 
Memory the centre. The web was about as when she left it. She paused 
en) Sebo a half minute, seized the trapline, taking precisely the 
j position and in the exact spot which she had occupied for sey- 
eral days before. Did she remember her nest after the forty-eight hours’ 
interval? The same fact as to memory of local snare and nest was tested 
upon another Trifolium, with the same results, The example above quoted 
indicates that Epeira trifolium preserved during twenty-four to forty-eight 
hours a recollection, or at least a perception of some sort, of its old quar- 
ters within its home nest. 
Yet stronger examples may be cited of spiders remembering their 
homes. The Trapdoor spider, for example, that constructs its ingenious 
hinged door upon a bed of moss or lichen, and then covers the lid with 
plants precisely like those surrounding it, when it leaves its den and 
goes out upon excursions for food, and returns without difficulty to its 
home, certainly has preserved distinct recollection of the location of that 
home. 
Again, the Tiger spider makes a burrow underneath beds of moss, 
erecting over it a vestibule or dome composed of the material everywhere 
surrounding the spot. From this she sallies forth into the vici- 
Sense of nage, often making wide excursions after prey, and returns 
aa either by day or night to her nest, notwithstanding its general 
likeness to the environment. This is true of Lycosids generally. 
The mother Lycosa in the cocooning period oftens erects a cell or caye, 
underneath a stone or'in like positions, which is partly lined with silk, 
and sometimes has a pretty approach to the surface between the sprays 
of grass, clover, or other vegetation, as may be seen in Vol. IIL, page 144, 
Fig. 175, with the nest of Lycosa scutulata.' From this retreat Lycosa 
will sally forth after food, dragging her egg sac behind her. It may seem 
a little strange that she should do so, and one might be inclined to think 
her rather stupid not to leave this treasure at home. Nevertheless, she 
attaches it to her spinnerets, and carries it with her in all her excursions, 
and thereby, no doubt, saves it from parasitic and other enemies. Having 
secured her food she returns to her cell, and notwithstanding the manner 
in which it is secreted, finds it without difficulty. 
So also Saltigrade spiders, and others of like habit, who issue from 
their silken cells to stalk their prey on walls and trees, appear to find their 
way to their homes without difficulty. These facts indicate on the part of 
1 This species is there erroneously given as Lycosa saccata. 
