COCOONS CONSTRUCTED BY SPIDERS. 
1 79 
spherical, and about forty or fifty in number, she closes the 
mouth of the cocoon and proceeds to daub it all over with 
! mud. The moistened earth clings tightly to the silken cocoon, 
and disguises it so effectually that no one who had not seen it 
before that operation, could conceive how beautiful it had 
once been. The muddy cover makes the cocoon less visible, 
and may probably have another effect, that of protecting the 
inclosed eggs and young from the attacks of insects that feed 
upon spiders. Several other species have the habit of daubing 
] their beautiful cocoons with mud. 
This species is plentiful in Bostal Common and Bexley 
Heath in Kent, the profuse growth of gorse being very suitable 
to its mode of life, and I have several specimens of their nests 
taken from Shooter’s Hill. June is the best month for them, 
I as they may be found both before and after the mud has been 
I applied. 
An allied species, Agelena Icibyrinthica, is equally plentiful in 
similar localities, where its curious webs may be seen stretched 
in horizontal sheets over the gorse, and having attached to each 
web a cylindrical tube, at the end of which sits the spider itself. 
Heath and common grass are also frequented by this spider. 
Besides the net or web in which it lives, and by means of 
which it catches prey, it makes a beautiful cocoon in which the ^ 
eggs are placed. Externally the cocoon looks like a simple 
silken bag, perfectly white in colour, and, except in size, some- 
what resembling that of the preceding species. It is only 
when quite freshly made, that the white hue of the cocoon is 
visible ; for after its completion, it is covered with scraps of 
dry leaves, bark, earth, and other substances. If, however, 
this cocoon be opened, it is found to contain at least another 
cocoon within, and often comprises two, of a saucer-like shape, 
and made also of white silk. These inner cocoons are nearly 
half an inch in diameter, and contain a very variable quantity 
of pale yellow, spherical eggs, sometimes fifty in number, but 
often exceeding a hundred. The inner cocoons are firmly tied 
by strong lines to the interior of the large sac in which they 
are inclosed. 
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