98 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 
upon the bottom of the box. The fore legs were extended forward so that 
the feet came well together, each leg being fastened upon a thread. The 
cephalothorax and head were bolstered against several cross 
Other = jines. When the observation began the skin of the corselet was 
fae ta loose and cast back above the abdomen. The spider was in 
“the act of moulting the face below the eyes and falces. This 
was done by a succession of regular motions by which the body was 
pressed backward against the moulting frame, and the skin of the 
legs, palps, and falces at each swell was pushed a little more forward. 
The purchase was less as the skin was more and more rejected, and 
at the metatarsus and tarsus the legs were extricated by pulling them 
gently. 
After moulting the legs were folded together under the sternum, and 
were then passed through the mouth in the manner of spiders when 
_ cleansing the hairy armature of the legs. The new skin looked 
Behavior fresh and bright; the black rings upon the legs retained their 
After hue; the flesh colored and brownish parts were whitish; the 
Moulting, hue; the flesh colore p ; t 
abdomen was little changed as to color. Shortly after moulting 
the spider turned over and assumed an upright position upon her moult- 
ing frame. When touched she kept quite still, decidedly in contrast with 
the normal habit of the species. 
The Medicinal spider (‘Tegenaria medicinalis) suspends itself beneath its 
web in order to moult. The skin divides at the edges of the cephalo- 
_, thorax, leaving the casts of the sternum and the three first pairs? 
ee of legs, together with the mouth parts, on one side; the shield, 
wae * abdomen, and last pair of legs on the other. In the cast skin 
the corselet is thrown backward and downward, and is surrounded 
by the hind pair of legs. It is united to the abdomen, which is repre- 
sented by an irregular mass of black skin, the softness of that organ 
preventing it from maintaining the firm outlines of the other parts, which 
more resemble the shell of true insects. The skins of the first three pairs 
of legs are thrown forward, nearly or quite touching above the face, as 
when one throws his arms over his head.! This represents the position 
maintained during the act of casting the skin. 
With Trochosa singoriensis the rejected dorsum of the cephalothorax is 
held to the abdomen by the skin of the pedicle, which is rent longitudi- 
nally into two nearly equal parts. The upper part unites the 
corselet to the abdomen, and the lower part ties the sternum 
thereto. The cephalothorax parts along the edge above the inser- 
tion of the legs; the last pair of legs first escape from the old skin, then 
the third, and the others in order. In unsheathing the legs the spider 
finds a point of support in the legs themselves; that is, she supports 
Lycosids. 
Tarentula. 
1 This may not be the rule, but is true of the case described. 
