MATERNAL INSTINCTS: MOTHERHOOD. 187 



The Speckled Agalena makes a cocoon which equals in its complexity 

 the most carefully prepared of the Orbwcavers. It not only surrounds its 

 eggs with several swathings of silken material, but adds a mattress of saw- 

 dust or bark chippings scraped from surrounding objects. Yet, according 

 to Mrs. Treat, a spider mother of this species kept watch over her cocoon 

 long after the frosts of winter had fallen, it being preserved in a suffi- 

 ciently protected spot.^ Mr. Emerton attributes to this spider the habit 

 of remaining near her cocoon until she dies.'^ Nevertheless, my own nu- 

 merous observations compel me to believe that this species gives an example 

 of complexity associated with isolation of cocoon. 



The interesting California spider, Segestria canities, spins a string of 

 ten or a dozen cocoons, which it suspends in the midst of a thick maze of 

 crossed lines, forming a strong protection, yet she keeps her home in a 

 silken tube spun along one side of the cocoon string. 



Tegenaria agrestis of Europe makes a well protected and cushioned 

 cocoon for her young, yet she watches it carefully. The cocoons of all 

 known Saltigrades are all protected underneath a thick exterior tent and 

 by a stout case, but the mothers remain near, within the cell, although, 

 according to Professor Peckham,* underneath an extra covering. Such 

 examples as Segestria and the Saltigrades cannot positively be cited as 

 cases of cocoon vigil, but at all events the mother's domicile includes the 

 cocoon within its premises. 



The above facts appear to indicate, first, that cocoons wliich are least 

 carefully protected by spinning industry have a supplementary defense in 

 the personal care of the mother ; on the other hand, second, that 

 j" ® ^" cocoons which are abandoned as soon as made, and are entirely 

 without maternal sentry, are protected by elaborate structures ; 

 but, third, in some cases the complex structure and the maternal vigil 

 exist together. 



IV. 



Orbweavers differ among themselves as to the number of cocoons spun 

 by females. Certain species, as the Tailed and Labyrinth spiders, habitu- 

 ally spin several cocoons ; others, again, as most Epeiras, ordi- 

 Multifold n-i^i-iiy gpin \)iii one. This habit must be subject to some va- 

 riations, the reasons for which are not clear. Epeira apoclisa, 

 according to Lister, lays three and even four cocoons in the period 

 of a little more than two months. Termeyer makes the statement that 

 Epeira diademata, when well fed, will make six cocoons. 



Several years ago a ministerial acquaintance, Rev. P. L. Jones, brought 

 me two cocoons of the Basket Argiope, both of which, he affirmed, had 



• " My Garden Pets," page 18. ' New England Drassidse, page 200, (36). 



^ Letter to the author. 



