118 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



is formed in July and is round, one-fourth inch in diameter, and bluish or 

 greenish blue in color. It is loosely covered with silk and fastened to tlie 

 lower side of a leaf, the edges of wliich are bound together, so as to pro- 

 tect iV (Fig. 121.) 



Theridium varians pairs in June, and in July tlic female constructs 

 several globular cocoons of dull white silk, of a loose texture, the largest 

 of which measui-es about one-seventh of an inch in diameter. 

 Therid- They are attached to objects situated near the upper part of the 

 mm van- ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ contain, according to their size, from twenty to sixty 

 spherical eggs, of a yellowish white color, not adlierent among 

 themselves. 2 (Fig. 122.) Withered leaves, dried moss, and particles of 

 indurated earth are generally disposed about the cocoons.^ This habit, 

 which, as will be seen further on, prevails largely in other families, appears 

 to have but slight hold upon the cocooning instincts of the Lineweavers. 



The little bronze colored spiders 

 belonging chiefly to the genus Eri- 

 gone, weave their cocoons within 

 the balled mass of intersecting lines 

 which form their snare and abode. 

 I have seen numberless examples 

 of these webs, made manifest by the 

 morning dews along the Delaware, 

 shining over the entire external foli- 

 age of a large spruce tree from top- 

 most to lowest bough. Again, they 

 will be seen with other Theridioid 

 webs, glittering in the slanting sun- 

 light on myriads of bunched grass 

 tops, timothy heads, and weed toj)S. 

 Some species of Erigone make a lit- 

 tle balled cocoon similar to those 

 of Theridium first described, and 

 similarly held within the snare. Another form of cocoon which I attrib- 

 ute to a spider of the same genus is a minute white button shaped or 

 • . double convex bag, from one-sixteenth to one-eighth inch in 



diameter. It is suspended at the converging points of four lines 

 (Fig. 123), which are attached to the surrounding foliage, as in the ex- 

 ample shown of a cocoon hung between two twigs of pine, near a Theridioid 

 web, in which an Erigone was ensconced. 



F'lo. 123. Cocoon of Erigone (?) suspended between 

 twigs of pine. 



' Stiiveley, Brit. Spiflers, page 140; Blackwall, Spi. Gt. B. & I., pi. xiii., Fig. 111. 



* Two small round cocoons are seen witiiin the tent like structure in the cut, but in this 

 case, as with the figure of Theridium topidariorum, as lieretofore remarked, the artist has 

 erred by drawing in a sheeted tent instead of a structure of open lines. 



•' Blackwall, Spiders Gt. B. & I., page 189, pi. xiv.. Fig. 120, d. 



