224 AMERICAN SPIDBRS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



The young of Epeira diiulcinata, as observed in Europe,' liavc a like 

 habit. In the spring, when tlie spiders .are newly hatched, almost as 

 soon as tlrey' leave tlie eggs they spin a small ii-regular mass of 

 English almost invisible lines, in the middle of which they cluster to- 

 peira i g.^.j^],p,.^ forming themselves into a ball about the size of a cherry 

 stone.* This hangs apparently in midair, and an observer aj)- 

 proaching it to discover its nature touches some one of the slender lines 

 by whicli it is sus})ended, or some twig near enough to communicate mo- 

 tion to them. In an instant a hundred living atoms begin to disperse, 

 the solid little ball seeming for a moment to be turning into smoke, so 

 minute are the animals, so rapid are their motions, and so invisible the 

 means of their dispersion. After a few seconds, if the disturbance be not 

 repeated, the little creatures begin to subside again into a cluster, which is 

 not at once restored to its former small size, since a thousand legs, how- 

 ever minute, require a little time for the necessary curling, packing, and 

 settling by which this animate sphere of snugging spiderlings is formed. 



. A series of careful observations, made and coinnuniicated to me by 

 Mrs. Treat, confirm the above records and furnish some interesting details. 

 Females of Epeira harrisontc '^ were brought from New Hainp- 

 ^'^^ . shire to Vineland' in October, and there made their cocoons in 

 Solder *^^^ same month. These the mothers fastened to the ceiling after 

 the fashion of the Domicile spider, and as long as life lasted 

 manifested an unvarying love and care for the future offspring. As soon 

 as a cocoon was completed the mother addressed herself to protecting it 

 from insect foes and frost. For this purpose slie scraped weather beaten 

 boards with her mandibles, and made little pellets of the gray chippings, 

 with which she covered the cocoon, which thus resembled somewliat a nat- 

 ural inequality in the wood. 



The younglings did not leave the cocoon until the following spring. 

 When they first came out they moved about six inclies distant and 

 formed a compact mass like a miniature swarm of bees, in whicli con- 

 dition they remained a day or two. Finally, the mass broke up and 

 formed four groups, in whicli they remained another day. Then they 

 separated, and the united sjjinning labors of the entire brood made a 

 thick web five or six inches in length and breadth. Herein they left 

 their first baby clothes strung thickly along the innumerable lines. There- 

 after they began to disi)ersc, scattering everywhere around the house, each 

 spinning a i)erfect little orb not much larger than a silver dollar. At 

 this stage the observer began to look upon her spiderling emigrants with 

 dismay. Several hundred must have emerged from each cocoon ; and, 



' Staveloy, British Spiders, page 230. 



2 There must l)o a iiiistjike here a,s to aW.e; tlie chistors of Diiideinufa would surely he 

 :h larger. ■' Kpeira ciuerea Einertoii. 



