GENERAL COCOONING HABITS OF SPIDERS. 



123 



Agalena labyrinthea of Europe resembles in its general habits the Aga- 



lena nsevia of America. According to Walckenaer the female makes her 



single cocoon in the month of August, which she encloses within 



Agalena ^ huge purse like web full of soil and vegetable detritus. When 



laby- 

 rinthea. 



the web is removed, the cocoon is seen to be about the size of the 

 end of one's thumb, and woven of a fine silken tissue enveloped 

 by clods of earth. Next to these is another envelope of silk, and then, 

 finally, particles of soil so strongly adhering to the cocoon that they cannot 

 well be separated. When tlie cocoon is opened, it is found to be formed 

 of a thick, tough web. On the exterior it is beautifully white and perfectly 

 polished. It contains as high as one hundred and thirty-four eggs of a 

 greenish yellow color. ^ 



The well known cellar spider, Tcgcnaria derhamii,'^ which is widely 



Fio. 130. Snare of Tegenaria derhamii in a cellar window, with three cocoons suspended thereto. 

 Fia. 131. One cocoon, natural size. 



distributed over both hemispheres, conceals her eggs within a flattened 



ball or hemisphere of soft silk, somewhere in the neighborhood 



. of her snare. Sometimes this is suspended by threads to the 



snare itself (see Vol. I., page 239, Fig. 221), or again is attached 



directly to it, and the envelope interwoven with the fibre of the web, so 



that it has much the appearance of a rounded button upon a coat. Fig. 130 



' Walckenaer, Aptfires, Vol. II., page 22. 



* I have supposed that the Medicinal spider of Hentz, Tegenaria medicinalis, is identi- 

 cal with this species, and have so used tlic name in Vol. I. Mr. Emerton, however, in a 

 recent paper, declares Ilentz's Tegenaria medicinalis to be a Ccclotes, and separate from T. 

 derhamii. lie classifies as Coelotes medicinalis the spider that I have heretofore considered 

 Hentz's Tegenaria persica. See Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. Vlll., 1889-90, New Eng. Spiders 

 of the Families Drassidaj, etc. 



