oe. Ss. lle eee 
: > Ex 
NEST MAKING: ITS ORIGIN AND USE. lif 
of these; in the midst of her pyramidal snare of interlacing lines, or, at 
other times, sheltered underneath a growing leaf, she prepares a perfect 
little nesting tent, which is fastened by silken cords into a dome 
Buropean jike frame. The tent is lined with white silk, and is covered 
aaa with small dead leaves or flowers, or the stamens of larger flow- 
ers, or anything which has presented itself. It is decorated with 
the wings or other parts of insects, among which 
the beautiful wing cases of the nut weevil are often 
found. This tent is not used for a domicile alone, 
but as a receptacle for the cocoon.! 
Theridium riparium builds a nest which Black- 
wall thus concisely describes: She fabricates a 
slender, conical tube of silk, of a very slight 
texture, measuring from one and a half to two and a half inches in 
length, and about one-half inch in diameter at its lower extremity. It 
is closed above, open below, thickly covered externally with bits of indu- 
rated earth, small stones, and withered leaves and flowers, which are in- 
corporated with it, and is suspended perpendicularly, by lines attached to 
its sides and apex, in the irregular snare constructed by this species. In 
the upper part of this triangular domicile the female spins several glob- 
ular cocoons of yellowish white silk, of a slight texture, whose mean 
diameter is about one-eighth of an inch, in each of which she deposits 
from twenty to sixty small spherical eggs, of a pale, yellowish white color, 
not agglutinated together. The young remain with the mother for a long 
period after quitting the cocoons, and are provided by her with food, 
which consists chiefly of ants.? 
In point of fact, this English Lineweaver possesses the faculty of nest 
> building to as remarkable a degree as any 
known spider. I therefore insert at length 
a series of interesting observations recorded 
by Mr. Edward H. Robertson, of Brixton, 
England. * 
Riparium has a great antipathy to strong 
light, and usually completes her nest under 
the shade of overhanging banks, 
seldom making her appearance 
during the day, and becoming act- 
ive as darkness creeps on. The nest is a 
tube varying in length from one to two and a half inches, closed above, 
but open at the lower end, ihe diameter at the mouth being dockage one-half 
Fie. 293. The tubular nest of a 
Saltigrade spider, in a rolled leaf. 
Material 
Used. 
Fia, 294. Nest of Theridium zelotypum. 
1 Staveley, British Spiders, page 145. 
* Blackwall, “Researches in Zoology,” page 356. Also, Spiders of Great Britain, Introduc- 
tion, page 9. 
* “Science Gossip,” January, 1868, page 12 sq. 
