102 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



the early spring, hanging intact upon the hushes where tliey liad hccn 

 placed, although, of course, the snare had entirely disai)poarcd. 



The Tailed spider, Cyclosa caudata, differs from Jjabyrinthea in the 

 mode of hanging her string of egg sacs. This is suspended within the 

 limits of her orb, above the central space, along the line of the 

 H t* perj)endicular. As the cocoons increase in number, the adjacent 

 radii and the connecting spirals are cut out, leaving a clear seg- 

 ment resembling that in the snare of Zilla, in the middle of which the 

 cocoon string hangs. (Fig. 92.) The number of cocoons 

 appears to vary much ; I have usually found from three 

 to five ; Hentz never observed more tlian five. ' They 

 are generally in shape a double cone, altliough often 

 round or roundish, and are from three-sixteenths 

 to quarter of an inch (five to seven millimetres) 

 long and one-eighth inch (three millimetres) 

 wide. A cocoon is not composed of two dis- 

 tinct parts, like one of Labyrinthea's, but 

 is spun in a single piece of soft yellow- 

 ish floss, externally close enough to be 

 weatherproof, but which ravels out 

 into woolly threads when picked 

 with a needle. 



Within, the sac is filled abun- 

 dantly with delicate, flossy, yellow 

 silk, in which the eggs are de- 

 posited. These vary in number; 

 for example, three now before me, 

 opened in succession, contain, re- 

 spectively, twenty-two, two, and 

 ten ; certainly a remarkable differ- 

 ence. On one occasion a female 

 enclosed within a paper box began 

 to )nakc a cocoon, but proceeded 

 no further than to weave a tiny 

 saucer, similar to that spun by Ar- 

 giope riparia. This would, there- 

 fore, appear to be the commencement of her cocoon, and it may be that 

 against such a disk Caudata habitually deposits her eggs before enclosing 

 them. However, I have not found this within her cocoons, as is the case 

 with Argiope's, and conclude that the disk is made the basis of the external 

 sac, into whicli it is woven as the spider proceeds. The cocoons are often 

 well separated upon the string, but also are found touching and even over- 



Fio. 90. Labyrinthea's snare, viewed from beliind, with 

 two cocoons iu site above the tubular nest. 



'Spiders United States," page 127. 



