. American spiders and their spinning work. A natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits. Spiders. 166 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. first been spun upon the leaf, within which the egg mass was oviposited. Over that the external blanket was woven, and when my observation began the mother was engaged upon this. The method of proceeding did not differ from that of other species and tribes in like work. The spider grasped the margins of the cocoons with the claws of her fore feet, which she continually moved around t
. American spiders and their spinning work. A natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits. Spiders. 166 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. first been spun upon the leaf, within which the egg mass was oviposited. Over that the external blanket was woven, and when my observation began the mother was engaged upon this. The method of proceeding did not differ from that of other species and tribes in like work. The spider grasped the margins of the cocoons with the claws of her fore feet, which she continually moved around the margin as she spun. The third pair of legs, and occasionallj' one of the fourth, were also used for grasping the cocoon and moving the spider's body. The remaining fourth leg, and sometimes both the hind legs, were used for drawing out the spinning threads. As the spider thus swung around her cocoon, heavy filaments of silk were extruded from all the spinnerets, which were opened up and somewhat elevated. The long jointed third jiair, particularly, was constantly lifted U{) and dropped, us though beating in the silken tis- sue, after tlie manner described in the case of Argiope cophinaria when making her silken shield. (Vol. I., Chapter VI., page 100.) We may confidently assert that the Territelaria3 form no exception, for I have fully observed their mode of spinning the material which cor- responds with the silken cocoon. The silken rug on which our great Tarantula rests, the tube of the Purseweb spider, etc., are almost certainly woven precisely as is the cocoon of those species; and, if so, the Tunnelweavers spin their co- coons as do other tribes. Turning to the Wanderers, we have in the case of the Lycosids an ex- ij)lc, to which I have heretofore referred (Vol. II., page 144), of the man- ner in which Lycosa fabricates her round cocoon. She first weaves a circular patch, which she afterwards forms into a hol- low sphere surrounding her eggs. The mode of equalizing the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectspiders, bookyear1889
