GENKKAL COCOONING HAIUTS OF SI'IDERS. 



121 



which it is closely allied structurally. It is found in houses, upon walls, 

 etc., in warm situations. It is described a.s slow and deliberate in its 

 motions, displaying somewhat of the action of a gnat in lifting 

 th^racica "'"'^ poising its leg in the air wlien walking. The whole char- 

 acter of the aranead is mild and quiet. The poison fangs are 

 so feeble as to be of but little use in seizing its prey, which office is chiefly 

 performed by the maxilhe. Wlien taken, Scytodes offers no I'esistance and 

 attempts no flight, but, feigning death, resigns itself quietly to its fate.' 



This tribe embraces the singular genus Walckenaiira, some of whose 

 species liave the eyes placed upon little turret like elevations of the ceph- 

 alothorax. Their habits have not been carefully studied, and 

 tlieir cocoons are little known. One European species, Walcke- 

 naera acuminata, makes a cocoon flat on one side, rounded on the 

 other, about one-third inch in diameter, and composed of slightly woven 

 white silk. It is found in autunui on tlic under surface of stones and 



Walck 

 enaera, 



Cocoon of Agalcna ntevia, spun upon bark. 



Fi(i. 126. Appearance of exterior, covered with brown sawdust. Fifis. 127 and 128. Views after the outer 



coverings have been removed. 



other objects.''^ Our Anierican fauna has a number of closely related rej)- 

 resentatives of this strange genus, wliicli are relegated by Emerton to vari- 

 ous genera,^ and it is probable tliat their cocoonery nearly resembles that 

 of the above species. 



II. 



Tlie most common Tubewoaver in the Eastern States is probably the 

 Speckled Agalena, Agalena naevia. Its funnel shaped nest, with its broad 

 sheeted top spread over the grass or hedges, or stretched in mis- 

 cellaneous sites, is one of the most familiar objects in our land- 

 scape. Its cocoon is attached to some surface, as the leaf of a 

 tree, a rock, or the under surface of a loose bit of old bark. In 

 this position Agalena spreads a circular patch a half inch or 

 more in diameter, within which she encloses her eggs. This is covered 



Tube- 

 weaving 

 Agale- 

 ninae. 



' Staveley, " British Spiders," page 268. 

 ^ See liis " New England Theridiidre." 



Idem, page 205. 



