American spiders and their spinningworkA natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits . inued without intermission, sometimes more slowly and again?D^^\ more rapidly. At seven oclock and eight minutes the cocoon ajjpeared to be completed, as far as its general shape and sizewere concerned, but the spider continued working on it until ten oclockand fifteen minutes, when I was compelled to cease my observations. During the last three hours tlie spinnerets were more fretpiently squeezedagainst the cocoon, as though to pack the ma
American spiders and their spinningworkA natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits . inued without intermission, sometimes more slowly and again?D^^\ more rapidly. At seven oclock and eight minutes the cocoon ajjpeared to be completed, as far as its general shape and sizewere concerned, but the spider continued working on it until ten oclockand fifteen minutes, when I was compelled to cease my observations. During the last three hours tlie spinnerets were more fretpiently squeezedagainst the cocoon, as though to pack the mass and fasten the threadsmore closely. The filaments now, instead of being bent ujion the surface 164 AMEKICAN SFIDKRS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. ill the form of flossy loops of curled thread, seemed to be laid down asstraight lines. As a consequence the surface after spinning did not show tlie flossy appearance, for example, of a bitof cotton wool, but rather the smooth andIX compact appearance of a spool of closelywound sewing thread. Not that the co-coon thread was wrapped quite as closelyas the spool, but in a general way it pre- Tliis effect was. Fig. 201. Figs. 200, 201. Epeira strix enclosing her eggs rented that appearance. within silk floss, i.^fter , i i ,i i i- ,i n promoted by the use made of the leg,which was laid flat along the cocoon, and the last two joints pressed againstit, tlius serving to compact the threads. When I returned at twelve oclock and ten minutes, work upon thecocoon had ceased, and the spider was putting in the finishing lines ofthe maze of interlacing threads within which the cocoon of tliis species isordinarily suspended. T was somewhat surprised, however, to find that nochange had occurred in the exterior appearance and character of the masssince I had left it. I had supposed that some kind of a varnish would belaid upon the surface, having the idea that perhaps some modification ordegree of the material which composes the viscid beadin
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectspiders, bookyear1890
