MATERNAL INDUSTRY : COCOONS OF OKBWEAVERS. 



85 



its lethargy only the condition naturally preceding cocooning. The sec- 

 ond cocoon was a little larger and more flocculont tlian the first. 



After this maternal duty the mother 

 disposed of the flies that were entangled 

 in her web, without any liesitation. This 

 was not the end of the matter, however, 

 for on the 14th of December, just three 

 weeks after the second cocoon had been 

 spun, a third was made, which was like- 

 wise attached to the web. On the after- 

 noon of January 6th, three weeks after 

 this last maternal act, the spider lost her 

 grip uj)on the meshes of her Aveb and 

 fell dead to the floor, having been in the 

 possession of the observer three months. 



11. 



The genus Epeira, wliicli includes our 

 best known and most numerous species 



of Orbweavers, has little va- 

 peira i-jety among its most typical 



species in the form of its co- 

 coons, the maimer of 2)rotection, and 

 nature of sites selected for them. Tlic 

 general form is that of a ball, hemi- 

 sphere, or semiovoid mass of thick, silken 

 floss, that enswatlies a white silken bag, 

 within which a number of eggs, usually 

 yellow, are massed. This is fastened in 

 any convenient and eligible position, at- 

 tached directly to the surface or hung 

 amid supporting threads. I have strip- 

 ped from a decaying trunk a bit of bark 

 eighteen inches long, on which one could 

 count forty or fifty of these cocoons in- 

 termingled with those of Agalcna n;evia 

 and other Tubeweavers, and of Lateri- 

 grades, as well as the white silken tubes 

 of Saltigradcs. (Fig. 55.) Often the 

 dried bodies of the mothers, who had 

 died shortly after tlieir last maternal 

 care and work, were found clinging to 



the nurseries of their young. When deposited in such sites tlie eggs 

 rarely have any other protection in the way of spinningwork than the 



Cocoons of Epeira underneaUi the 

 bark of an old tree. 



