American spiders and their spinningworkA natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits . al habit is to sjiin a, piano convexcocoon of tough silk fibre, which is attached to some surface. Sometimesa light shelter tent is spun over this, and thespider will be found dwelling within. (See Vol. I.,page 347, Fig. 338.) Thomisus cristatus Clerck,of Europe (Xysticus audax Koch), secludes her-self in the leaves and stretches some isolatedthreads around her, and there sometimes she sus-pends herself. In this retreat tlie female lays her
American spiders and their spinningworkA natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits . al habit is to sjiin a, piano convexcocoon of tough silk fibre, which is attached to some surface. Sometimesa light shelter tent is spun over this, and thespider will be found dwelling within. (See Vol. I.,page 347, Fig. 338.) Thomisus cristatus Clerck,of Europe (Xysticus audax Koch), secludes her-self in the leaves and stretches some isolatedthreads around her, and there sometimes she sus-pends herself. In this retreat tlie female lays hereggs in a flat cocoon, one-fourtli incli in diame-ter, the tissue of which is swollen by the eggs,and presents rounded eminences. The spider placeshenself upon the cocoon and does not abandon itwhen touched. The cocoon contains one hundredeggs of yellowish white color. ^ The eggs of Philodromus are usually enclosed within a cell which ishung among the leaves or stretched between twigs. (Fig. 187.) Tlie eggsac is surrounded by a slight silken tent, wherein the mother dwells. Anexample of Philodromus mollitor, in my collection,* is woven in the angles. Fig. 187. Cocooning tents ofPhilodromus mollitor. ^ North American Spiders of the Family Attidie, Phidippus opifex !McCook. Acad. Sci., Vol. II., 1888, page 20. ^ De Geer, jjages 286, 287. ^ ^\alckenaer, Ajiteres, Vol. I., page 523. ?* This example was sent me by Dr. Geo. Marx as the cocoon of this species. 152 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. of forked twigs and are composed of very white stiff silk, the stiffness prob-ably being caused by the tightness with which the lines were spun.(Fig. 187.) Misumena vatia is well known among the Laterigrade spiders by itsremarkable mimicry of the colors of flowers upon which it lurks for fine example of its cocoon was brought to my notice by a lady who hadtransported a specimen from the Wyoming Valley to her home in Phila-delphia. Her attention had be(>n arre
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectspiders, bookyear1890
