63 



Fig. 28. 



rounded bunch of them, into the 

 middle of which she afterwards lays 

 the eggs, as in Fig. 28. The eggs, 

 which are like a drop of jelly, are 

 held up by the loose threads till the 

 spider has time to spin under them a 

 covering of stronger silk. Epeira 

 vulgaris makes a similar cocoon up- 

 ward, downward, or sidewise, as may 

 be most convenient. 



Most of the Theridiidce make cocoons of loose silk, held up in the 

 webb by numerous threads. Some hang the cocoon by a stem, Fig. 29. 



The large species of Argiope makes a big pear-shaped cocoon 

 hanging in grass or bushes, Fig. 30. A stem of loose brown silk is 

 first made, and under this the eggs attached (at any rate this had been 

 done in one which had been abandoned unfinished) ; then 

 a cup-shaped piece is made under the eggs ; the bunch 

 of loose silk is spun over all, and finally the paper-like shell. 



These cocoons are made late in the summer and the young 

 stay in them till the next season. Many cocoons of irreg- 

 ular shape may be found in cellars and other retired places 

 during the winter ; the eggs contained in them are hatched 

 in the following spring. 



The hatching occupies a day or two. First the shell, or 

 rather the skin, cracks along the lines between the legs, and 

 comes off in rags ; then the creature slowly stretches itself and creeps 

 pale and soft, without any hairs or spines and only small claws on its feet ; but in a few 

 days it gets rid of another skin and begins to look like a spider. The eyes become darker 

 coloured, marks on the thorax become more distinct, and a dark stripe appears across the 

 edge of each segment of the abdomen ; the hairs are long and few in number. Before the 

 next month, the brood usually leaves the cocoon and for a time they live together in a 

 web spun in common. As the spider grows large it has to moult from time to time ; as 

 many as nine moults have been observed in a species of Tegenaria that lives for several 

 years. 



Many species, and among them some of the largest, live only . one year, hatching in 

 the winter, leaving the cocoon in early summer and laying eggs and dying in autumn. 

 Other species seem to require two years for their growth ; hatching in summer, passing 



Fitr 



lug. oU 



out. It is now 



their first winter half crown, 



up 



the next summer, but laying no eggs till the 



second spring. Some species are found adult at all seasons, and may live several years. 

 After spiders have passed their second moult, they usually live in the same places, and 

 follow the same habits, as the adults. 



Several house spiders have probably been imported, like rats, and are found all over 

 the world ; while other very common species never spread beyond the countries where 

 they are most abundant. 



THE PEA WEEVIL (Bruchus Pisi). 

 By AY. Saunders, London. 



The pea weevil, or pea bug as it is more commonly called, has become a very serious 

 evil in Ontario, and prevails at present to such an extent as to entail enormous losses on 

 the farming community, since peas are cultivated over a greater or lesser area on almost 

 every farm. This insect, which is believed to be a native of America, was first noticed in 

 Pennsylvania, attacking the pea early in the present century, and from thence has gradu- 

 ally spread over the whole of the Northern TJuited States and Canada ; it has also been 

 carried to Europe where it has firmly established itself in the southern portions, and in 



