440 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND TIIKIU SPINNINGWOKK. 



of entire self possession, as though consciousness had never for a moment 



heen lost. 



My conclusions in this matter arc substantially suj)ported by the ex- 



porinicnlH made by the reckhams, which arc recorded (juite at length.' 



These naturalists made two hundred and ten experiments on this 

 Peck- 

 , , subject upon spiders taken from fifteen different genera, and their 



studies. I'tisultnig conclusion is that no spider under their observation 

 ever fell into a kataplcctic condition. A few of their experi- 

 ments may be quoted, with the remark that, as far as they cover the spe- 

 cies experimented upon by myself, they arc confirmatory of my results. 



One of the best death feigners is Epeira bombicinaria, a species iden- 

 tical with Epeira parvula. A pretty little female was softly touched as 

 she hung in her web. She fell two feet, and then swung to a neighbor- 

 ing branch, where she crouched motionless for three minutes. Being again 

 gently touched, she fell to the ground with her legs outstretched, and then, 

 quickly drawing them in, remained clinging, in a very inconspicuous heap, 

 to a blade of grass. Here she stayed motionless for one hour, when she 

 was placed in a bottle, carried into the house, and, still keeping perfectly 

 quiet, was shaken out on a table. After two hours she was pushed by 

 the end of a brass rod. Then her legs were lifted one by one with a 



needle. She seemed so lifeless that they began to wonder if 

 Pa*rviilai's 



Sham- *''"'^ '■"^^ ^^®" watching a dead spider after all. They finally 

 ming. touched her with the point of a needle, but at the first sugges- 

 tion of a prick she ran rapidly away. She was knocked over as 

 she ran and remained motionless just as she fell, resting on the cephalo- 

 thorax with all tlie legs drawn closely in, excepting one which was slightly 

 extended. She did not look like a live spider, nor like a dead one, nor 

 like anything except a bit of bark or lump of dirt. She laid thus with- 

 out a perceptible (juiver for more than two hours and a half, and then 

 suddenly ran away. She was reduced to quiet several times after this, 

 but was less patient and endured no more handling. She did not usually 

 lie still just as she fell, but deliberately gathered up her legs in such a 

 way that they were indistinj^uishable from each other and from her body. 

 Another example of remarkable death feigning was a large female 

 Epeira infumata. She was put into a tumbler and left until the follow- 

 ing morning, when one of the Peckhams, on looking at her, exclaimed 

 that she was dead! Her legs were drawn up and bent, and 

 mata's ^^^'^ looked stiff and dry. She was handed from one to an- 

 Peigning. other of those present. Her demise was duly regretted, and her 

 wonderful protective coloring was remarked upon. She was then 

 put back into the tumbler. An hour later, much to their astonishment, 

 she was found moving about, alive and well. As they were experimenting 



' Journal of Morphology, Vol. I., No. 2, 1887, page 408, s(i. 



