Marvels of 
The common Garden Spider, or Cross Spider 
as it is often called, makes a more spreading 
‘cocoon, which is quite a familiar object where 
there are close wooden fences. The egg-nest 
is made in an angle where one board overlaps 
another, or in a crevice of bark. She first 
‘spins a pad of silk upon which she deposits 
her yellow eggs, then another sheet of silk is 
laid over them, and over this a great deal of 
silk of looser texture, many short threads 
running off on all sides to secure it to the 
fence. When this cradle is finished,<* the 
spider sits with her legs spread across it to 
guard the precious contents, as shown in 
our photo. There is good reason for this 
watchfulness, for these nests are visited by 
ichneumon-wasps, who lay their eggs in the 
spider-eggs, if the parent is not on guard. 
But supposing all goes well and the eggs 
hatch, there will be seen a vast concourse of 
tiny black atoms—hundreds of them—who 
congregate in a compact ball, and take no 
food for a time. If alarmed, they run off in 
all directions, but return when the danger is 
past and again form up into a ball. Such a 
disperson, due to the attack of a small black 
ant, is shown in our photo on page 1114. 
Some spiders, after elaborating the egg- 
cocoon, hang it up in a corner of their snare- 
web, a procedure which enables them to attend 
to ordinary business whilst keeping guard 
over the eggs. One of the species of spiders 
that haunt the insides of our houses is known 
as Pholcus, distinguished from the thick- 
bodied, hairy-legged common House Spider 
by its narrow body and very long, slender 
legs, that remind one of the Harvestman. 
Pholcus makes no egg-cocoon, but she glues 
her eggs into a compact ball and carries them 
about wherever she goes. She is not a nomad 
like the Wolf Spider, and therefore there 
seems, at first sight, no reason why she should 
‘secure her eggs at home. But she has ex- 
perience of the housemaid’s brush, and though 
-a snare may be easily renewed, that is not the 
case witha ball of eggs. Another spider, named 
Ero, fashions her egg-bag into a ball and sus- 
pends it by long threads, apparently to prevent 
creeping enemies from getting at it (see page 
the Universe Iplplpt 
(by F. Enock, PLS. 
FINAL TOUCHES. 
By the aid of the pincers the folding and packing is 
completed, then— 
va 
(Bu F. neces V.L.S. 
BACK IN POSITION. 
—the wings are neatly placed in their resting position, the 
body is extended, and all that remains is the closing of the 
wing-covers. 
