COCOON LIFE AND RABYHOOD. 



237 



close to each other, foriniiig thus a miniature colony. One of these settle- 

 ments I have redrawn from Mr. Otto Herman's description of the Hun- 

 garian spider fauna.' 



XI. 



The disposition of some young spiders to settle in colonies in the 

 neighborhood of their maternal origin may well be seen in the case of 

 the Medicinal spider. For example, in my church cellar several 

 A Cellar ^yi,„](-,^g ]^^yQ ]jqq^^ left undisturbed, by my directions, in order 

 ° °^^' that the various sjjccies inhabiting them might have free op- 

 portunity to multiply and build in a natural way. On one window, which 

 is represented in the accompanying cut (Fig. 2G0), an interesting spectacle 

 is presented to the observer. The opening for the window is a deep one, 

 the wall being four feet in thickness. The glass opens into an area exca- 

 vated from the embankment outside, and through which light falls, dimly 

 ilhnninating the window space. The' whole place is occupied by spiders 

 of several species. 



In the forefront may be seen the wel) of intersecting lines spun by 

 Theridium scrpentinum. The mother has disappeared, but her eight co- 

 coons of flossy white silk still (in midwinter) hang in the midst of the 

 maze of crossed lines, almost as spotless as when si)un, appearing to have 

 little capacity to gather the dust and muck of the cellar. .Just beyond, 

 and almost filling the capacious opening, the long cables of Theridium 

 tepidariorum are stretched. Here the motlier had her home, and she 

 has left a dozen of her pear shaped, yellowish brown egg bags within the 

 meshes of the snare. Beneath this a species of Linyphia has stretched 

 her sheet like web, and as late as Christmas (1889) was found hanging 

 beneath it, apparently patiently waiting to pick up such chance prey as 

 the late season might bring her. Small snares of young individuals of 

 the two species of Theridium above mentioned are woven at various points 

 in the intervals. In a few the proprietors may be seen hanging back down- 

 ward ; from others the spinners have disappeared into various crevices and 

 rugosities of the rough plastered window. 



Further on we reach the glass window frames close against the area. 

 In either corner, and occupying the angle for a considerable distance on 

 either side, are stretched the triangular shaped webs of Tegenaria 

 ^®'^^''^"*^ incdicinalis. Some of them arc quite large. All are covered 

 ^^ ^^' with cellar dust and soot. Some of them look broken and aban- 

 doned. In others, if one follows the snare to the angle and runs his fin- 

 ger into the turret, he will find still living the sombre colored spider that 

 wove the web. These webs and towers are or were the snares and homes 



1 Wohnungscolonie von Epiblemum soenicum unter Rinclen. Magyarorszitg Pok-fadja 

 (Hungarian Spider Fauna), Vol. I., irUi Herman Otto, pi. iii., Fig. 04. 



