NEST MAKING: ITS ORIGIN AND USE. 327 
surface about equal in diameter to twice the length of its body, or to 
the spread of its legs.? 
Thus the thick texture of the sheeted web is produced by the act of 
beating downward with the long spinnerets, repeated motions of which up 
and down make little loops, which thicken over the surface and are beaten 
down and then smoothed over by the spinnerets. (Fig. 313.) It will be 
seen that this action does not differ from that of all other spiders while 
engaged upon similar spinningwork. 
The spinning habit is not greatly developed among the Lycosids, al- 
though that group of spiders furnishes some interesting examples of nest 
making. Nevertheless, in the work of making the cocoon, in 
which its spinning industry is most conspicuous, we find Lycosa 
dropping into the common method of fabrication. I have ob- 
served and described the mode of spinning a cocoon, -_— 
which is as follows: 
A circular cushion 
of beautiful white 
silk about three- 
fourths of an inch ¥ 
in diameter is the © 
piece out of which 
the round egg bag 
of Lycosa is made. 
In spinning this 
the spider’s feet 
clasp the circum- 
ference of the co- 
coon, and the body 
of the animal is slowly revolved. The abdomen is lifted up, thus drawing 
out short loops of silk from the extended spinnerets, which, when the 
abdomen is dropped again, contract and leave a flossy curl of silk at the 
point of attachment. The abdomen is also swayed back and forward, the 
filaments from the spinnerets following the motion as the spider turns, 
and thus an even thickness of silk is laid upon the eggs.? 
I have seen Saltigrades engage in the same act of spinning their co- 
coon and silken cylindrical nest, and the words used for describing the 
above might be almost exactly applied to the behavior of the Attoid. The 
details of these methods of cocoon making will be reserved for the proper 
chapter in the second volume of this work. But, in the meanwhile, this 
reference to the method falls into-the purpose of present thought. 
Among 
Lycosids. 
Fig. 313. Tarantula putting the weft upon her rug. (Eurypelma Hentzii.) 
1See my notes on the Age and Habits of the American Tarantula, Proceed. Acad. Nat. 
Sci., 1887, page 377. 
2See my note on “How Lycosa Fabricates her Round Cocoon,” Proceed. Acad. Nat. 
Sci. Phila., 1884, page 138, 
